Symbols for contestants in the November 12th 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE) have to be submitted to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) by August 29, 2018.
A GECOM advertisement in yesterday’s issue of Stabroek News declared Nomination Day for the LGE as September 21, 2018.
The date for the submission of symbols will mean that governing coalition partners APNU and the AFC will have to finally decide whether they are going separately or together to the LGE. In 2016 they contested as a coalition but there have been signs that they have not been able to reach an accord on LGE.
The AFC had said earlier this year that it was hoping to reach an accord with APNU on the LGE. After the 2016 LGE there had been grumbling in the ranks of the AFC over the number of positions taken up by the AFC at local government councils.
It doesn’t appear that APNU is keen on an accord. Observers say there is a feeling in the APNU camp that the AFC will have no choice but to continue with the coalition otherwise it could be exposed as having lost a lot of electoral support on the ground.
The two parties met on the LGE in May this year. There has been little information on what has transpired since.
The GECOM ad said that all political parties, voluntary groups and individuals have to submit a symbol for approval by GECOM. It warned that any list of candidates submitted by any political party, voluntary group or individual candidate on Nomination Day without the pre-approved symbol will be deemed defective.
