Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is not pleased with the way the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has handled the declaration of the results for the recently concluded Local Government Elections but he is certain that his party the People’s Progressive Party has won a “massive victory” at those polls.
Speaking at a press conference held at Freedom House on Thursday, Jagdeo restated that the party had won control of 48 of the 71 Local Government Areas (LGA) contested on March 18.
He blasted GECOM for failing to declare the results of the four “no contest” LGA’s as part of their official declaration.
“GECOM has to do more,” he said, “they should’ve done more. The laws require declarations to be done at a local level not at a national level but they could’ve had a press conference and released the information to the public.”
According to Jagdeo, GECOM continues to dismiss the concerns raised about their operations without acknowledging that they “are talking about the system which must work in a way that makes people feel satisfied.”
GECOM late Monday evening made results available for 65 of the 71 LGA. Despite promising in February to declare the winners in these NDC at the same time as the other 67, they did not include the results for the councils at Mocha/Arcadia, Kintyre/Borlam, Black Bush Polder and Crabwood Creek/Moleson Creek which had only one list of candidates contesting. There was also no results for the Good Hope/Pomona LGA and incomplete results for the Ordnance/Fort Lands No. 38 LGA. Results for Ordance/Fort Lands No. 38 has since been updated while Good Hope/Pomona remains unavailable.
“The areas where there were no contest were not included in the results but they were part of the elections and their inclusion shows that we have won 48 of the 71 areas contested while APNU+AFC won 15”, Jagdeo said.
According to Jagdeo, of the 1,166 seats contested PPP won 754, APNU won 375 and independent entities won 36. He also said that 28,000 more persons voted for his party than the ruling coalition granting them the popular vote.
“It was a massive victory,” he declared, “we won on the popular vote, on the number of LGAs and the number of seats. All three of these areas show a massive victory for the PPP.”
Data from GECOM shows the total number of seats available to be 1,160. Excluding the undeclared 18 seats in the Good Hope/Pomona NDC the PPP has secured 709 seats while the APNU won 399 and independent entities 33 seats. One first past the post seat in the municipality of Rose Hall is still to be decided after two candidates gained the same number of votes at the polls.
The PPP/C has won 48 LGAs, APNU 13 while there are 8 where both parties have gained equal numbers of seats and one LGA being won by independent group.
The PPP maintains that the fact that it has won more than three times the areas of the coalition as well as the fact that those areas won by the coalition recorded the lowest voter turnout out show that the population is already fed up of the government.
“The PPP won 65% of the areas while the coalition won 32%. In areas where APNU did well the turnout was below the national average; it was less than 40% when the national average was 47% even in the coalition stronghold the number was low. This shows that people are unhappy with this good life, ordinary people are hurting in many, many areas,” Jagdeo said.
He cited the opposition’s win in Patentia, an area which he said they had never won. He credits the government’s decision to close Wales Sugar Estate with gaining them control of that NDC.
He added that his party did not campaign effectively in the municipalities but will now hit the ground visiting all the communities to explain to them why they have a better plan for developing Guyana.
“We are now looking past LGE. These areas were won and the councilors must now act in a manner that’s respectful of people and which is serves their best interest. At a national level we will work in our strongholds to strengthen the PPP and in APNU strongholds to let them know that we offer better development options,” he said.
