As Guyanese prepare to go to the polls on Monday, much focus will be placed on three main towns – Georgetown, New Amsterdam and Linden. These towns are traditionally controlled by the current Opposition, the PNC-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), but the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has declared its intention to take over the reins of these townships at the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE).
Georgetown
In the 2018 local government polls, the Georgetown municipality saw some 28,436 valid votes cast, of which 18,127 went to APNU; 7,050 to the PPP/C, and 3,059 to the Alliance for Change (AFC). There were also two other small parties that contested those elections in Georgetown, and they pulled a combined total of 200 votes.
Of the 40 available seats on the City Council, only 15 were taken up: 9 by APNU; 4 by the PPP/C and 2 by the AFC. However, the AFC has since given up its two seats, leaving them vacant.
For this year’s local government polls, the PPP/C is fielding two crossover candidates from the APNU: Patricia Chase-Green and Trichria Richards. In 2018, Chase-Green won Constituency 12 on the APNU ticket with 2,212 votes, against PPP/C’s 92 votes in that area. This time, she is now a candidate for the PPP/C in that constituency.
Similarly, Richards had won Constituency 13 with 1,830 votes for the APNU, against PPP/C’s 213 votes in 2018. She is also now contesting as a PPP/C candidate at Monday’s polls.
Results will show how effective these cross-overs have been in Georgetown.
Outside of the capital city, the interest in these elections is in New Amsterdam in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and the Municipality of Linden in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Linden
At the 2018 local government polls, Linden saw a voter turnout that was strong with some 5132 valid ballots cast. Of that number, 3306 were for APNU and 402 were in favour of the PPP. The AFC got 1075 votes back then. That Town Council is made up of 16 seats, with APNU having 13, the AFC 2, and the PPP/C one.
In Linden, there are several PPP/C candidates who have crossed over from APNU. These include Errof Roetham and Keith Ferrier, who will be contesting in constituencies 6 and 7 respectively. Additionally, former Coalition Member of Parliament Audwin Rutherford is now also a candidate on the PPP/C slate in Linden.
New Amsterdam
The PPP/C seems to have garnered more interest in New Amsterdam, which has been under the leadership of the Peoples National Congress Reform and later, the PNC-led APNU for close to six decades.
In fact, the PPP/C closed its campaign with a rally in New Amsterdam on Friday evening at which President Dr Irfaan Ali and the party’s General Secretary Dr Bharrat Jagdeo addressed residents of the town, while APNU also closed its campaign with a rally in the town of Saturday, at which its leader, Aubrey Norton was scheduled to speak but never showed up.
Only recently, President Ali, while on a visit to the town, said what is happening in New Amsterdam would be replicated in other communities across the country. This was after a number of persons who previously had supported APNU had thrown their support behind the PPP.
In the 2018 LGE, New Amsterdam recorded a very low voter turnout with only 4063 valid ballots cast; 2272 going to APNU and 1070 to PPP/C.
For this year’s local government polls, New Amsterdam has one crossover candidate, Esan Vanderstoop, who is currently a sitting APNU Councillor on the Town Council. He won Constituency Five at the last LGE with 280 votes, while the PPP was only able to pick up 72. This time around, Vanderstoop is also contesting, but he is wearing the PPP colours and is a candidate on the PPP slate.
Interesting is the fact that there are two independent candidates contesting in that constituency: Dr Mark Fraser and Kenroy Henry.
Polls open across the country at 06:00h on Monday.
