THE preliminary findings of an ongoing opinion survey being conducted by pollster and political analyst, Dr. Vishnu Bisram, for the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA), have shown that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is on course to a landslide victory at the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGEs).

As earlier NACTA polls have found, there was a lack of enthusiasm for the opposition, People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) which has had miniscule overall support in the local government bodies.

In several NDCs and in many seats, the PNC showed no meaningful (or no) presence; there has been hardly any sign of an election contest from the main opposition party.

A NACTA poll conducted last January and February found zero presence of PNC activists in hundreds of constituencies, suggesting that the party had thrown in the political towel and was not likely to contest in those seats, especially in PPP/C rural strongholds.

In contrast, the PPP/C that has been governing the country since August 2020, has a strong or dominant campaign presence of activists everywhere, suggesting it was likely to contest in all seats, inclusive of traditional opposition strongholds where it had zero chance of victory in previous elections.

As revealed by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in early May, many local government seats (and a few NDCs) are not being contested by more than one candidate, landing wins to the PPP nominees as the NACTA polls had projected.

The PNC seems hamstrung with funding challenges and leadership issues. There is a paucity or scarcity of the party’s campaign paraphernalia in the public domain. And many donors who supported the party’s campaign in the 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2020, elections have said they will not fund the party under the current political dispensation.

“In addition, a large majority of traditional supporters express a lack of confidence in the leader and are not enthused about voting. Also, unlike in earlier elections, volunteers appear very scarce to canvass and motivate voter turnout. Political and voter morale in strongholds is very low,” Bisram said.

The opposition party has virtually no campaign (staff and or paraphernalia) presence in several of the 70 NDCS and ten municipalities, including in areas it won in the 2018 and 2016 local elections. Voter turnout among PNC supporters is expected to hit an all-time low.

In the contested NDCs and municipalities, the trend as found in the NACTA poll, is an overall sweeping victory for the PPP/C. As earlier NACTA polls found and now confirmed by the latest poll, the PPP/C is attracting cross-over racial appeal. The PPP/C has been making inroads in every local authority area.

“The PPP/C has made gains everywhere in voter support. including in traditional PNC strongholds and will wrest seats from the opposition party although it is too early to say whether the PPP can dethrone the PNC in its hardcore base,” Bisram said.

Only in the traditional strongholds of Georgetown, Linden, and New Amsterdam and a few other areas, is the PNC putting up strong resistance to PPP/C’s political encroachment. However, the findings of the poll reveal that the PNC could lose several areas that it won in or has controlled since the 2016 and 2018 LGEs.