…PPP secures 7 seats, AFC 2

THE A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) retained control of Guyana’s capita, Georgetown, collecting 21 of the 30 seats on the 30-member council. The party achieved this by winning 12 of the 15 constituencies.

Its rival, People’s Progressive Party Civic however, improved its showing by grabbing three constituencies and collecting another four seats through the Proportional Representation mechanism of the Local Government system. The Alliance For Change (AFC) won two PR seats as well.

Approximately 119,374 eligible voters were expected to cast their ballots in the Municipality of Georgetown but by the close of poll, a meagre 28.3 per cent of the voting population had done so, confirming reports of a low voters’ turn out.
In announcing the election results for the Municipality of Georgetown in the mixed system of Proportional Representation (PR) and First-Past-The-Post (FPTP), the city’s Returning Officer Duarte Hetsberger disclosed that APNU won a total of 21 seats from a total of 30 while the PPP/C secured seven (7) seats. The AFC – the party that forms a bloc of the current government but opted to go it alone during this round of elections — managed two seats.

Nine of the APNU’s seats came from the Proportional Representation (PR) system while 12 were garnered from the First Past the Post system. PPP/C received four seats from the PR system and three under the First-Past-The-Post component. AFC won two seats, both under the PR component of the elections.

In offering his breakdown in the presence of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward, the returning officer disclosed that a total of 28,436 valid votes were cast and a total of 432 were rejected ballot papers.
He explained that in the PR component of the Local Government Elections, the APNU won the hearts of voters’ securing the majority of votes – 18,127. The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) came in second with 7,050 votes while the Alliance For Change (AFC) raked in 3,059 votes. The GNS Party secured a meagre 94 votes and the United Republican Party (URP), 106 votes.

Meanwhile, in the First-Past-The-Post component of the elections, the voters’ confidence in Patricia Chase-Green was clearly expressed, despite being on the firing line for the chaos at City Hall. In her constituency – No. 12, Chase-Green – an APNU member – came up against AFC’s Bryan Nobrega, PPP/C’s Maxine Padmore, and independent candidate Hubert Maloney. The mayor collected 2,212 of the votes. Nobrega managed to secure only 662 votes while Padmore got 92 votes. The independent candidate had 34 ballots cast in his favour.

When the new council is sworn into office, the Deputy Mayor Akeem Peter will take his place around the horseshoe table at City Hall having outdone himself in Monday’s elections. Peter, who contested in Constituency Five, secured 1,473 voters while his contenders – AFC’s Vashti Harris, PPP/C’s Dion Younge and Independent Candidate James Hermanstein, got 171, 419 and 295 votes respectively.

APNU’s Gregory Fraser will also be returning to the council. Fraser, who is no stranger to the local political scene in the city, raked in 1,207 votes thrashing his contenders. AFC’s Patricia Marks received only 210 votes and PPP/C’s Lurlene James 200 votes.
This time around, Constituency No. 11 will be represented by Yvonne Ferguson, who raked in 1,196 of the voters in her area. AFC’s Quincy Alleyne managed to rake in only 170 while PPP/C’s Mark Persaud secured 760 votes but it wasn’t enough to defeat Ferguson. URP’s Jason Herbert got 32 votes while former city councilor Eon Andrews, who had decided to go it alone as an independent candidate, got only 193 votes.

First time candidate Denroy Tudor, who contested under the APNU umbrella, outshone the others and pulled the majority of the votes. Tudor raked in 1,436 votes in Constituency No. 14 while AFC’s Juliet Julian secured 308 votes and PPP/C’s Sextus Edwards 86.
His colleague over in Constituency 15, Cilesia Hall also collected the majority of the votes. Hall secured 614 to win herself a spot on the council while AFC Ufax Branche and PPP/C’s Michael Moosammy secured 126 and 270 votes respectively.

APNU’s Trichria Richards copped 1,830 of the votes in Constituency No. 13 while AFC’s Jewula Ceasar and PPP/C’s Alana Persaud grabbed 403 and 213 votes respectively.
APNU’s Heston Bostwick also won in Constituency No. 10 having secured 882. AFC’s Brittany Eversley got 237 votes while PPP/C’s Ron Amos pulled only 329 votes.
Over in Constituency Nine, APNU’s Shonelle Smith-Daniels now have the opportunity to represent residents within the area after they threw their support behind her. Smith-Daniels pulled 1,253 votes. AFC’s Martin Gaul and PPP/C’s representative secured 327 and 104 votes respectively. Independent candidate Bonar Robertson got 113 votes.

In Constituency Seven, APNU’s Ivelaw Henry secured 397 votes while AFC’s Le Shante Marks raked in only 88 votes and PPP/C’s Bishram Kuppen 229 votes. Henry will now take up a seat on the council.

In Constituency Four, APNU’s Alfred Mentore raked in 654 votes to secure a spot on the council while his contenders received 201 votes in the case of AFC’s Renata Chuck A Sang; 547 votes in the case of PPP/C’s Patrick De Santos and 89 votes went to Independent Candidate Louis Nestor, Independent Candidate Michael Williams 58 and Independent Candidate Phyllis Jordan, 106 votes.

Constituency One was also won by a candidate of the APNU. Ubraj Narine who secured 816 votes defeating AFC’s Natoya Gibson (293), PPP/C’s (559) and two independent candidates who both got below 150 votes each.

While her colleagues managed to pull the majority of the votes in their constituencies, sitting councillor Andrea Marks suffered a major loss after she was defeated by PPP/C’s Param Persaud in Constituency Six. Persaud 1,279 votes while Marks came sharply behind with 1,066 votes, though not enough to return to council. AFC’s Sylvester Shim only got 148 votes.

PPP’s Dimitri Ali won a seat on the council after pulling 849 votes in Constituency Three. APNU’s Astell Collins secured 528 votes but not enough to defeat his PPP/C contender, however, he did receive more votes than AFC’s Patricia Helwig who got 65 votes and the two independent candidates who both received below 90 votes.

PPP/C also won in Constituency Two. Its candidate Nalissa Ferguson secured 877 votes while APNU’s Shondel Hope got 756 votes. AFC’s Arnold Sukhraj got 160 votes while two independent candidates got below 120 votes each.