The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) results show that the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has taken Georgetown, with Mayor Patricia Chase Green’s constituency solidly supporting her. But the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has showed improved gains in the city, compared to 2016.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Returning Officer for Georgetown Duarte Hetsberger announced that APNU would hold the majority on the City Council. APNU got a total of 18,127 votes.
This time, however, the PPP has significantly more seats on the Council than before and is second only to APNU in terms of votes. Commenting on the coalition’s loss of seats, People’s National Congress (PNC) Chairperson Volda Lawrence acknowledged that they have more work to do.
“With a turnout of that number, certainly one would expect a low voter turnout at that level would have affected everybody. So we don’t see it as a loss. What we see it as is taking stock of the fact that we need to do more to educate people about Local Government.”
“This is their thing, (but) I believe many persons have not bought in to Local Government. I believe there were a lot of expectations. There were personal expectations that did not materialise. So a few people felt they shouldn’t exercise their franchise,” Lawrence also noted.
Lawrence noted that APNU nevertheless has a new cadre of persons who went out and performed. While this is true, there are still some old faces. These include Chase Green, who received a notable 2212 votes in her Tucville/North Ruimveldt constituency.
The Mayor has had to testify before a recent Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into City Hall… a CoI that has uncovered many discrepancies. While it focused on the actions of Town Clerk Royston King, sections of society expressed the view that Chase Green, having presided over everything, should face some of the heat.
Other old faces that were returned include Deputy Mayor Akeem Peters and Heston Bostwick. Among the new members of the Council are PPP candidate Nalissa Ferguson, who edged out APNU’s Shondel Hope by 877 votes to 756, respectively. They contested in constituency two, Kitty North, Central and South and Subryanville.
PPP’s Param Persaud, with 1279 votes in constituency six, is another new face at City Hall, as is APNU’s Ubraj Narine and Cilesia Hall. PPP Councillor Bishram Kuppen, who has at times led the drive for transparency at City Hall, was narrowly edged out by APNU candidate Ivelaw Henry in constituency seven (Bourda/Stabroek/Lacytown).
APNU’s votes are followed by the PPP, which got 7050 votes and the Alliance For Change (AFC), which received 3059. APNU got a total of 21 seats on the City Council, nine of which came from the PR and 12 from the First Past the Post components. Back in 2016, the combined APNU/AFC controlled 25 seats.
The PPP received seven seats, including four from the PR component. It is a definite improvement, as they only got two seats in 2016. The AFC’s only two seats came from the PR method. There was a 28.3 per cent voter turnout.
She also denied that the Local Government Elections would be a precursor to 2020s General and Regional Elections. Lawrence had faith that the 2020 election would see a more positive turn out, as people are likely to take it more seriously.
