WITH local government elections merely days away, political parties and other contesting individuals and groups are seeking to make their cases as to why they should be given a chance to govern in their respective local government areas.
The ruling PPP/C has fielded candidates in all of the local government areas with the main opposition APNU contesting in just about half of the constituencies. The PPP/C is contesting all of the 610 constituencies. According to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), there will be no contest in 291 of the 610 constituencies being contested.
The no-contest phenomenon meant in effect that eligible voters in those constituencies will not be required to vote as a consequence of the existence of unopposed lists. Accordingly, there is no need for the establishment of polling stations in those constituencies or local government areas.
Section 54 of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act provides that if only one List of Candidates for any Local Authority Area (LAA) has been approved, the persons whose names appear on the list shall be deemed to have been elected as councillors due to the approved list being unopposed and therefore, the candidates in the unopposed list shall be declared the winner in the elections.
The no-contest syndrome is largely due to the inability of the APNU to field candidates in a significant number of constituencies/local government areas due to dwindling political support and/or organisational ineptitude.
Whatever the reason or reasons, it is tantamount to an abandonment of its responsibility to its constituencies, however miniscule or insignificant such support may be. Its junior partner in the APNU+AFC coalition had already abandoned the field under the spurious allegation that the Voters’ List is ‘flawed’, a position repeatedly echoed by the PNC.
The fact of the matter is that both the APNU and the AFC, as noted by PPP General Secretary Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, are afraid of facing the electorate out of fear of being rejected. The APNU, however, has much more to lose by not contesting and therefore seem content to field candidates only in those local government areas and constituencies where it felt it has some chance of winning, such as in the Georgetown, Linden and New Amsterdam municipalities, even though these communities seem to come increasingly under the sway of the ruling PPP/C alliance.
The results of the elections, from all indications, seem to be a forgone conclusion with the PPP/C alliance in a dominant position. This is especially so for the uncontested areas but also in the scores of other traditional PPP/C strongholds.
These coming local government elections do however provide an opportunity for a democratic renewal especially as it pertains to governance at the local level. It is indeed refreshing to see the exuberance and high energy level of the candidates from the contesting parties, many of whom are vying for office for the first time. This is good for our democracy.
Their freshness and high energy levels to contribute to community development is exactly what Guyana needs at this time when the country is experiencing rapid economic and social transformation due in large measure to the impact of greater revenues from oil.
This increased revenue flow is already impacting in positive ways in all facets of national life including at the community level. In the final analysis, it is the citizens of Guyana through their elected representatives that are responsible for the utilisation of such resources to bring maximum benefits to the Guyanese people.
