– AFC, URP settle for contesting in some municipalities at LGEs

THE Alliance For Change (AFC) and the United Republican Party (URP) will not be contesting in all of the municipalities for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGEs), according to the approved Lists of Candidates published by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in keeping with the Local Authorities (Elections) Act.
In Guyana, there are a total of 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs) consisting of 10 municipalities and 70 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) across the 10 administrative regions.

According to the published list, the AFC will not be contesting in Anna Regina and Rose Hall; the URP will not be contesting in Mabaruma, Mahdia, Lethem and Bartica.
The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will be contesting in all 10 municipalities. Those are Mabaruma, Anna Regina, Georgetown, New Amsterdam, Rose Hall, Corriverton, Bartica, Lethem, Linden and Mahdia.
According to the lists published by GECOM, the AFC will be contesting in 34 NDCs; however, in some cases, the party would be contesting only in the Proportional Representation component, while in other cases its candidates are contesting only in the First-Past-The-Post component of the elections. Such is the case in the Profit- Rising Sun NDC, where only two of its candidates would be contesting in the First-Past-The-Post component.

In total, the party, which will be running in the Local Government Elections for the first time as an independent party, will be contesting in 42 LAAs, according to GECOM. This figure contradicts the one the AFC had given. Recently, AFC Campaign Director and Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson and AFC executive member, Michael Leonard, told reporters that the alliance would be contesting in only 38 LAAs, though it had hoped for more.
At the time, the party’s executive had declined to disclose the areas in which the alliance would no longer be running, but said it was due to a number of issues faced such as bullyism experienced by its candidates and nominators in some LAAs. The AFC has a total of 600 candidates contesting the elections.

In the case of the APNU, it would be contesting in 66 NDCs, according to the lists published by GECOM. In total, the APNU will be contesting in 76 of the 80 LAAs in keeping with its initial intention; but APNU will not be contesting in the La Jalousie/Nouvelle, Caledonia/Good Success, Kintyre/Borlam and Bloomfield/Whim NDCs.
APNU is a coalition of five parties: the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), the Justice for All Party (JAP), the Guyana Action Party (GAP) and the National Front Alliance (NFA).

The PPP, the main opposition,is the only party that will be contesting all 80 LAAs in the mixed system of Proportional Representation and First-Past-The-Post. It boasts of having over 3000 candidates and over 20,000 backers.
Notably, the PPP and the AFC are the only parties contesting the controversial Bloomfield/Whim NDC.

Just days ago, Justice Navindra Singh adjourned hearing arguments in a Writ of Certiorari filed by Whim resident Safraz Beekham against GECOM.

The legal action is intended to quash GECOM’s decision to refuse to withdraw, remove, or delete the applicant’s name and the names of 49 other electors appearing on a list of backers in support of the Alliance For Change (AFC) constituency candidates. The case has been adjourned to October 19 and is set for the Demerara High Court.
Meanwhile, the URP, which will also be running in LGEs for the very first time, will be contesting in 18 NDCs, and a total of 24 LAAs.

APNU, AFC, PPP and URP are the political parties contesting the elections; however, there are a number of civil groups and individual candidates contesting the elections in various LAAs such as the Kwakwani United for Progress in the Upper Berbice River, Region 10.
According to GECOM’s Chief Election Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, out of 596 constituencies countrywide, a total of 174 will be no-contest, meaning that only one party had submitted its list there on Nomination Day.

The number of electors intended for the 2018 elections based on GECOM’s official list of voters totals 573,923, while polling stations are likely to total 1,684.

Local Government Elections will be held on November 12, 2018. It will be carried out by GECOM using a mixed system of Proportional Representation and First-Past-The-Post. The mixed electoral system allows for 50 per cent or half of the number of councillors of each Local Authority Area to be elected through the Proportional Representation component and the other 50 per cent through the First-Past-The-Post or constituency component.