With 25 days to go to the Local Government Elections, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has posted to its website, http://www.gecom.org.gy/ the approved lists of candidates for the ten municipalities and the approved lists for the 70 neighbourhood democratic councils contesting the polls.
Seeking to regain a seat on the Georgetown municipality is city mayor Patricia Chase-Green, who will once again be representing A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Constituency 12 – Tucville-North Ruimveldt constituency. Chase-Green will be coming up against public servant Brian David Nobrega of the Alliance For Change (AFC) and sales representative Maxine Donetta Padmore of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
The AFC is contesting elections on its own after it failed to reach a local government accord with APNU. The two groups contested the historic 2016 local government elections as a coalition but not this time.
For Constituency 4 – Lamaha Gardens, Newtown Campbellville, Section K Campbellville and Bel Air Park, the incumbent Alfred Mentore of APNU is being challenged by businesswoman Renata Chuck-A-Sang of the AFC and the PPP/C’s Patrick Neville De Santos, a miner.
Vying for Constituency 3 – Bel Air Gardens, Bel Air Springs, Prashad Nagar, North East Campbellville and North West Campbellville are author Astell Collins of APNU, psychologist Patricia Helwig of the AFC, and architect Dimitri Karmal Ali of the PPP/C.
The son of the late city councillor Junior Garrett, also bearing the name Junior Garrett, will be vying for a seat as a proportional representation candidate.
A number of independent candidates are also seeking seats on some constituencies in Georgetown. They include Jai Narine (Don) Singh, who made his mark during the ‘parking meter protests and who is eying the seat for Constituency 1- Kingston East and West, Thomas lands, Non Pariel Park, Cummingsburg, Alberttown and Queenstown.
Mabaruma
The current mayor of Mabaruma, Henry Smith and Gifford Marshall, who represented APNU at the last elections are now PR candidates and so too are PPP/C mayors Vijay Kumar Ramoo of Rose Hall town and Krishnand Jaichand of Corriverton. The incumbent for Anna Regina municipality Rabindranauth Mohan of the PPP/C will not seek reelection.
Winifred Rebecca Heywood, the incumbent for New Amsterdam municipality and representing the APNU will be coming up against Vaughn Trapp of the AFC, and Phillip Rose of the PPP/C for the Constituency 3 seat in New Amsterdam.
Current mayor of Linden Waneka Odetta Arrindell of APNU is seeking reelection through both the PR and constituency lists for Linden. She will come up against Joylyn Astorine Antigua of the AFC and Sherry Cassandra Fyee James of the PPP for Constituency 5.
The incumbent for Lethem municipality Kerry Anthony Jarvis representing APNU will compete with Jason Anthony Wilson of the PPP for the Constituency 5 seat.
For the new town of Mahdia, the APNU, AFC and the PPP/C will be vying to control the seats up for grabs. APNU is contesting three of the constituency seats in Mahdia and the AFC, four. The PPP/C will contest only the PR seats.
Among the NDCs to watch is the Bloomfield/Whim NDC the hometown of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo who is one of the executives of the AFC. Controversy erupted following the submission of its lists on September 21 when a number of nominators claimed they were either duped into signing as backers or were fraudulently used as backers by the AFC.
Among those accused of fraudulently using backers and vying for Constituency 7 are Mavis Nagamootoo for the AFC who will contest the seat against Sursatee Ishmael of the PPP/C. APNU is not contesting in the NDC. This will be seen as a strategic move to give the AFC a better chance of challenging the PPP/C. Another Nagamootoo, Abraham Nagamootoo of the AFC will contest Constituency 1 in the Bloomfield/Whim NDC against Ivan Baijnath of the PPP/C.
