On the heels of the protracted five-month-long General and Regional Elections three years ago, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is hopeful that all the right systems will be in place so that the results of this year’s Local Government Elections can be known in a timely manner.
During a recent broadcast programme, Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall reflected on the General and Regional Elections of 2020 and expressed hope that the upcoming Local Government polls on June 12 will be vastly different.
“We expect the elections results to be as in 2020. We had known the results of the elections by the evening and in the course of the Local Government Elections, those results should also be end by the close of business as well because one of the requirements is to…publicly post the results of the elections, the Statements of Poll at the place of poll in public and so, by the end of the day you…practically know who has won the elections as we did with the national elections as well,” Dharamlall explained.
He further expressed hopes that results from the Local Government polls will be promptly available and that the country’s political Opposition does not engage in activities that can derail the process.
“Let’s hope that the APNU/AFC would accept the results of the elections as they ought to have done in 2020,” Dharamlall shared.
The Minister further emphasised the importance of the local governance system as he urged citizens to ensure they participate by voting.
“Local governance is basically people from different communities who govern themselves and the stronger the local government system, the stronger local governance, so too will be the national democracy. So, it is incredibly important because services that ought to have been provided by the local democratic organs, unfortunately, those services have to be provided by Central Government. Because…rate collection is still low, because of participation in terms of the best candidates becoming councillors. So, what we have done in terms of our parties…we have done an enormous amount of consultations across constituencies in our country, to make sure we have the most committed and hopefully, the best candidates who can be voted as councillors in all of our local democratic organs,” the Minister explained.
Dharamlall specifically urged residents of Georgetown to vote for a candidate of the PPP/C.
“You are finding Georgetown heavily transformed, it is expanding in terms of the housing infrastructure, the commercial infrastructure in Georgetown has also expanded tremendously over the last two and a half (2.5) years and it is going to get even more intense as we proceed into the future. So, the city of Georgetown requires proper management and I think that any political party and in this case the PPP/C should be given the opportunity to manage Georgetown by the citizens of Georgetown,” Dharamlall remarked.
During Nomination Day on Monday, March 17, 2023, General Secretary of the PPP/C Bharrat Jagdeo also urged citizens of Georgetown to vote for the party at the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE).
“Give us a chance this time, for too long you’ve heard APNU’s propaganda, they’ve done practically nothing to change the lives of people in the city,” Jagdeo reminded during a gathering outside of Freedom House.
Jagdeo reminded that the PPP is open to accepting any citizen once they share a common goal of national development.
“If you believe in the development in our country, then your place is in the PPP,” Jagdeo expressed, as he urged persons not to “worry about the naysayers”.
LGE was initially set for March 13 this year, but GECOM had deferred it in December 2022 to address issues relating to its registration exercise.
This postponement occurred after a court action was filed by Opposition-aligned persons, challenging the process used to compile the List of Electors, or Voters’ List, for the pending LGE.
“This decision was taken at a special meeting of the Commission held on Thursday, 8th December, 2022 which was held to deliberate on a proposal submitted by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Mr Vishnu Persaud to conduct an exercise to correct the Registers of Voters for Local Government Elections under Section 24A of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Chapter 28:03,” the Elections Commission had explained last December.
LGE, which is usually due every two years, was last held in 2018. At the last LGE in November 2018, the then PPP/C Opposition had secured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This followed the holding of the LGE in 2016, during which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs.
