IN keeping with their commitment to better the lives of citizens, regardless of where they are from and who controls the constituency, the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has assured that the party will keep the promises it made during the campaign trail.

“Once again I wish to thank all of the people who work to deliver these results…” he said during his press conference held on Thursday at Freedom House.

“The reason we went out to join the campaign, is to give people the assurance that every promise made by the candidates of the PPP will be kept. We stand behind those promises,” he added.

The PPP General Secretary then highlighted the outstanding support received during the just conclude Local Government Elections (LGEs).

“We’re encouraged by the results; we’re encouraged to work harder. In every area, in Kwakwani, Linden, New Amsterdam, South Georgetown, North Georgetown, Bartica, Mahdia, the PPP strongholds, Lethem, everywhere else…areas we did not even contest, we’re encouraged to work because of these results.”

In order to refute the A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) claims that the low turnout at the polls is an indication of the rejection of the PPP, Jagdeo emphasised that the local government participation is historically low, but it was even lower during the time the APNU+AFC coalition held office.

“They should be worried that with such a turnout we trounced them,” he said adding that it is unimaginable what the aftermath would have been if there was a higher voter turnout.

When regards to choosing the best PR candidates, Jagdeo disclosed that the party is working hard in this regards.

“Right now, today, the entire party machinery has had to go around the country, to work with the LAAs to select our PR candidates.”
Furthermore, Jagdeo remarked that there is much excitement within the party, not only for the outright victories but also because of the fact that the PPP was able to secure votes in APNU strongholds.

Owing to great success, he said: “Our members are ready to work even harder.”

According to the actual results published by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), the PPP secured five of the 15 constituencies, with a whopping 12,553 votes, almost double the number of votes in 2018 in Georgetown.

With significant increases such as in Constituency One, where the PPP saw an almost 500 voter increase as compared to 2018.

In addition to keeping Constituencies Two (Kitty North, Central and South Subryanville) and Three (Bel Air Gardens, Bel Air Springs, Prashad Nagar, North East and North West), the party has also gained new footholds in Constituencies One (Kingston East and West, Thomas Lands, Non Pariel Park, Cummingsburg), Four (Lamaha Gardens, Newton, Campbellville, Section K Campbellville, Bel Air) and Seven (Bourda-Stabroek Central Lacytown).

At this year’s local government polls, the PPP/C garnered approximately 2,464 votes in Linden, securing them two seats at the municipality level. The APNU on the other hand raked in 8,002 votes which has given them 14 seats.

In 2018, the PPP/C had garnered 402 votes securing them one seat in the Region 10 township.