AS Nomination Day approaches, the campout by the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the Alliance For Change (AFC) and other small parties outside the Umana Yana reveals the hard truth; that the parties are scrambling to survive, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) ‘s Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo highlighted, saying that the parties are fumbling over backers’ signatures.

Dr. Jagdeo, during a press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, pointed out that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has not even taken possession of the Umana Yana, but representatives of some parties are already camping out outside.

Parties would be unable to contest the upcoming September 1 General and Regional Elections if there are duplicate signatures on any party’s list, and there is failure to rectify the defective list.

“Their fear; the reason APNU started so early is that the same people might be signing the backers list for AFC, APNU and Amanza [Walton-Desir]’s party and Simona Broomes’ party,” Dr. Jagdeo said.

On July 14, the Chief Election Officer, Vishnu Persaud will receive Lists of Candidates from representatives of the political parties contesting the 2025 elections for each of the 10 Geographical Constituencies and Regional Democratic Councils.

It is clearly outlined that individuals are only permitted to be a backer on one political party’s lists.

The lists include a Geographical Constituency List, a National Top-Up List, and a Regional Democratic Council List.

Each party is required to submit their lists of candidates for the election of a president, members of the National Assembly, and members of the Regional Democratic Councils to the Chief Elections Officer.

These lists will be delivered to Persaud at the Umana Yana, on Upper High Street, Kingston, Georgetown, on Monday, between 10:00hrs and 14:00 hrs.

According to Dr. Jagdeo, after seeing the other parties camped out there, members of his party, including Housing and Water Minister Susan Rodrigues and Minister Kwame McCoy of the Office of the Prime Minister, paid a visit to the site.
And after speaking with GECOM, it was explained that the Commission has not yet started registering parties.

Unlike the APNU, AFC and those smaller parties, Dr. Jagdeo said the PPP/C is not concerned about duplication issues affecting its candidate list, explaining, “We have backers like crazy, and we don’t have to worry about that duplication that can make our list deficient.”

In fact, he said his party is still working to reduce the signatories on its list to the final count.