DURING the People’s National Congress Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Council congress, the election of a regional chairman ended in deadlock after the contenders–the incumbent Kirk Fraser and former Vice-chairman Jevaughn Stephens–were tied with 41-41 votes.

The elections were held at the Berbice High School on Sunday afternoon. Central Committee Representative Ms Barbara Pilgrim-Roberts told the Guyana Chronicle that as a result of the deadlock, the central executive of the political party will have to determine the way forward.

This newspaper was reliably informed that many of Fraser’s supporters–drawn from the New Amsterdam district–were not on the list of eligible voters. However, Pilgrim-Roberts revealed that Corwin Crawford is the new vice-chairman; Shirla Scott Richardson (Secretary), Busta Wright ( Treasurer), along with Wainwright Mc Intosh, Fiaz Mursulin, and Morris Richardson, who are committee members.

The PNCR over the weekend convened regional conferences across the country with leaders rallying the base to get ready for the 2020 general and regional elections. Attorney General Basil Williams speaking at the Mahaica-Berbice conference held in Rosignol, West Coast Berbice, told members not to be daunted by the no-confidence motion tabled by the opposition against the government.

Regional conferences were also held in Essequibo Islands-West Demerara (Region Three) and Cuyuni-Mazaruni held their conferences on Saturday; Pomeroon-Supenaam (Region Two), Demerara-Mahaica (Region Four), Mahaica-Berbice (Region Five) were among those regions that held their conferences on Sunday.

In Demerara-Mahaica, several members were elected unopposed, namely chairman Genevieve Allen, Secretary Monica Thomas and Treasurer Ivelaw Henry. The vice-chairman post went to James Bond, while the Central Executive Committee (CEC) representative is Ernest Elliott and the committee members are Linda Gomes-Haley, Yvonne Fortune, and Roger Allicock.

Vinceroy Jordan won the chairmanship in Mahaica-Berbice; Charles Gibbons took the vice-chairman position; Carol Smith Joseph is the secretary and Carol Nurse is the treasurer; Member of Parliament Jennifer Wade is the CEC Representative and Wayneright Henry, Frank Wilson and Chandram Basantram are the committee members.

Williams in his feature address at the conference dismissed the no-confidence motion. “We have been in office for a mere three years plus, and we will remind them of this.  It is unfair to judge us in a mere three years after we have had to deal with the mayhem of the past 23 years. An inordinate amount of this government’s time has been spent on cleaning up the mess we inherited from them,” Williams declared, to cheers from party members gathered at D’Edward Village, West Bank Berbice, regional office.