Linden has voted overwhelmingly in favour of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) but the Alliance for Change (AFC) has still been able to acquired two seats on the 16-member council while the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has garnered one seat.
According to preliminary results issued by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), 5,132 valid votes were cast in the municipality in the Proportional Represen-tation (PR) aspect of Monday’s Local Government Elections (LGE). Of that number 3,606 were cast in favour of APNU, 1,075 for the AFC, 402 for the PPP/C and 49 for the United Republican Party (URP).
An elector quota of 642 applied to these results grants five seats to APNU, two to the AFC and 1 to the PPP/C. APNU has reportedly won all eight of the constituency seats for a total of 13 seats.
In 2016 the combined APNU+AFC won 15 of the 16 seats in Linden with voluntary group Linden 2025 having secured the final seat.
AFC Parliamentarian Audwin Rutherford explained to Stabroek News yesterday that while two of the councillors appointed in 2016 had been identified by the AFC, the party had faced problems with one who chose to self-identify as APNU.
He added that the party was satisfied that it had been able to dent what has traditionally been a PNCR stronghold and win two seats. “Even one seat would’ve been a victory so I’m really satisfied with our two seats,” he stressed.
The Town which recorded the lowest voter turnout in the 2016 LGE did not do much better this time around with a mere 5,132 valid votes cast from a pool of more than 23,000. In 2016 8,279 or 35.15 % of the 23,880 registered voters took part in the elections.
Meanwhile in the Municipality of Bartica 3,012 PR voters have cast 1,521 ballots in favour of the APNU, 1,145 for the PPP/C and 346 for the AFC.
An electoral quota of 335 has therefore assigned the nine PR seats as five for APNU, three for the PPP/C and 1 for the AFC.
Further the First Past the Post results which have been released shows PPP/C candidates Martin Murray and Shellan John winning Constituency 2: Bartica East (South) and Constituency 9: Koetaru-Big Barabara seat while APNU candidates have won all other seats. In total the APNU has won 12 seats, AFC one seat and the PPP/C three seats,
In this Municipality the voter turnout appeared to have been very similar to 2016 when 3,351 votes were cast, 49.15% of its eligible voters.
In those elections the APNU+AFC coalition won 14 seats (six PR and eight constituency), the PPP/C three seats (Two PR and 1 Constituency) with the Bartica Independent Green Alliance (BIGA) securing the final PR seat.
Over in New Amsterdam the APNU has also had a strong showing securing 10 of the 14 seats with the AFC securing one seat and the PPP/C three seats.
APNU has been able to secure all but one of the constituency seats with PPP/C candidate Nalini Tahal winning in Constituency 7: Overwinning-Glasgow.
For the PR aspect of the voting 4,006 valid votes were cast, 2.335 for the APNU, 553 for the AFC, 1,095 for the PPP/C and 95 for the URP.
An electoral quota of 572 divided the seats among the groups as four for the APNU, one for AFC and two for PPP/C.
The new municipality of Mahdia has also voted for the APNU. Three of the four constituency seats were won by the coalition candidate while the AFC candidate secure the Constituency 4: Konawak Essequibo seat following a no contest.
Of the 440 PR votes cast APNU secured 253 for two seats, the AFC managed 96 for 1 seat and the PPP/C was awarded the final seat after securing 91 votes.
