By Gabriella Chapman in Bartica
Preliminary results from Monday’s Local Government Elections have shown the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) winning the municipality, clinching seven of the nine constituencies, with the PPP claiming the other two.

The breakdown of the results shows in Constituency 1 APNU collected 146 votes with 46 going to the AFC and 140 for PPP/C. Constituency 2, APNU received 125; AFC 24, PPP/C 165. Constituency 3, APNU 265, AFC 34, PPP/C 174. Constituency 4, APNU 168, AFC 23, PPP/C 58. Constituency 5, APNU 190, AFC 73, PPP/C 44. Constituency 6, APNU 152, AFC 71, PPP/C 83. Constituency 7, APNU 159, AFC 72, PPP/C 116. Constituency 8, APNU 239, AFC 33, PPP/C 188. Constituency 9, APNU 66, AFC – O, PPP/C 117.

The Mayor of the town, Gifford Marshall, was amongst those who were anxiously awaiting the results. After the announcement, Marshall left the area with a smile. Earlier in the day he had expressed confidence that the people of Bartica are satisfied with their current leadership, and will without doubt vote for continued development.

Meanwhile, the day started out quite slowly in Bartica at the various polling stations in each constituency. However, the turn out picked up later in the day in several constituencies. This newspaper spoke with quite a few of the people of the town who came out to exercise their democratic right. They all had interesting takes in their reasons for voting and their expectancy of the new leaders that are going to be in power.

One resident of the Potaro Road area said that she wants to see continued development in the town. She hopes that with the APNU controlling both the region and government it will still leave room for smaller parties and organisations to have a stake.

A few other residents of the said area said that the Potaro Road is in a deplorable state and their reason for coming out to vote is so that they can have a voice in making the change they want to see in their community. “There were some changes in my area with our last leader, however, what I am discontented about is that the changes happened too late. So my expectations now from the ruling party, is to try to do things a bit earlier. From the moment they get into power, they should start doing things, so that people can see their authenticity and feel more comfortable in their community and don’t go elsewhere to live,” another one expressed

One teacher of the town said that the thing about getting involved in local politics, you could never be satisfied with whatever is done because the dynamics is constantly changing. “We always have to look at what is, and what areas we have to improve.

Over the last couple of years we have seen improvements in the town. This new green initiative and the President making our town the example to set, is something we should acknowledge and be proud of. Rome was not built in a day, so we don’t expect the whole town to be transformed overnight. But gradually we have seen improvements and I’m proud of what I’m seeing thus far,” he said.

One public servant said she ensured she used her lunch break to go cast her vote and she is expecting that the leaders be honest with what they do.