The PPP/C won the popular vote in Friday’s local government elections (LGE) capturing 25 000 more votes than the governing APNU+AFC under the proportional representation (PR) component of the polls.
Results provided by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) showed that countrywide, the PPP/C gained 123, 564 votes under the PR component of the elections compared to 98,670 for APNU+AFC. This is 24, 894 votes more than APNU+AFC.
The figures provided above are minus the results for the Good Hope/Pomona NDC for which GECOM had erroneously posted the figures from another NDC on its website. This was not corrected up to press time.
The PPP/C won the most Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) but was only able to secure three municipalities in the popular vote compared to six for the APNU+AFC coalition.
In the municipalities, APNU+AFC won the popular vote in Georgetown, Linden, New Amsterdam, Mabaruma, Bartica and Lethem. Anna Regina, Rose Hall and Corriverton went to the PPP/C.
However, as it relates to Mabaruma, APNU+AFC and the PPP/C won three seats each under the proportional representation component and under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) component, candidates supported by both parties also split the seats evenly leaving the council at a six-six tie.
For the NDCs, minus Good Hope/Pomona, the PPP/C took control of 43 councils in addition to three NDCs for which there were no contests as only the PPP/C had a list of candidates in those areas. APNU+AFC took the popular vote in 11 NDCs in addition to one for which there was a no contest as only the coalition had fielded a list in that area.
However, in terms of seat allocation there could be some shifting when the winners of the FPTP component are taken into account.
Meantime, an independent group, the 8th of May Movement swept the Beterverwagting/Triumph NDC winning 12 seats combined under the PR and FPTP component of the elections. APNU+AFC did not contest in this area.
Another community group, the Kwakwani United for Progress (KUP) was the only other independent group that won the popular vote in the area it contested. In Kwakwani, KUP won 422 votes compared to 328 for APNU+AFC and 56 for the PPP/C. However, the seats allocated are split evenly with three for the KUP and three for APNU+AFC.
The elections were the first to be held under a new hybrid system of proportional representation and First-Past-The-Post with each voter allowed to vote twice: once under the PR component and once under the FPTP component. Each system accounts for 50% of the seats available in each local government area.
GECOM has said that of the 507,584 people eligible to vote in Friday’s LGE, 239,070 people (47.1%) chose to exercise their franchise of which 236,323 votes were deemed valid.
