The Alliance For Change (AFC) has noted that one of its major setbacks in the recently concluded Local Government Elections (LGEs) was time constraints which hindered them from competing in several constituencies, but will serve as lessons for the future.

“One of the biggest problems we suffered from was time constraints. Lots of people are now calling and saying ‘I was available. I’m really sorry that I did not come in and presented myself as a candidate for the given area’. And, this is something that we must work on,” said AFC General Secretary Marlon Williams on Tuesday.

“I believe in admitting our issues and one of the biggest issues is that we relied on a few people and in many instances we were not able in a timely manner, to present a list to GECOM so we weren’t able to compete in many constituencies… had we fueled candidates in all the constituencies we’re very confident, based on the outcomes, that we would have done significantly better.”

Williams made the observations at the party’s headquarters during a press conference where he added that these unfortunate obstructions at the LGEs have, in no way, hindered the party’s growing support base.

“The party is as strong as ever,” he said, confidently adding that there are continuous requests being placed by persons to join the AFC. Williams said further: “The Alliance For Change remains relevant and constant in its position and its numbers in the elections.”
Executive Secretary Michael Leonard had added that the 3.8 per cent of votes as reported by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to be secured by the AFC are “nationalistic” while the some 10 per cent of votes the party has assessed it secured is “constituency based”.

“In Georgetown, for example, we got about 10.8 per cent. Compare our numbers to the APNU’s number in Georgetown, we got 16 per cent of the APNU’s votes so we did relatively well,” Leonard said.
“In this local government election we have to always remember how low the voter turnout was. It was very, very low. So, in all of those constraints, with all of those issues, we still maintained that 10 per cent even in the city and the other areas that we contested.”

Meanwhile, Williams reminded that under half of the constituencies countrywide were contested in by the AFC; that Guyana was robbed of LGEs for many years and the younger population base which supports the AFC largely did not turn out to vote at the election.