Even as the APNU coalition remains undecided on whether it will contest the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE), its Leader Aubrey Norton yesterday confirmed that it has submitted a symbol to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
Norton last night told Stabroek News that the coalition had submitted its symbol by the deadline specified.
“We have submitted and advised groups also to submit their symbols but we have not made a decision as yet,” he said in a brief telephone interview.
At his Press Conference yesterday as Leader of the Opposition, he stated that the coalition will not allow the PPP/C the opportunity to control their strongholds.
The deadline for submissions was midnight Monday. GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj yesterday told Stabroek News that they have not gone through the submissions as yet and are likely to scrutinize the symbols later this week.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has been calling for a fresh voters list and has expressed concerns over the non-publishing of the voters list in constituencies.
The executive of the party had requested to meet with GECOM commissioners yesterday but due to a miscommunication that meeting did not occur. A new meeting has been scheduled for next Tuesday at 1 pm.
Norton told this newspaper that the party had written to GECOM to meet and the elections body responded to their letter with a request for more information. He stated that the requested information was submitted but he was unclear on a meeting scheduled for yesterday.
The party is hoping to discuss concerns about the voters’ list, the lists for constituencies and issues surrounding new Neighbourhood Democractic Councils, among others.
APNU member Mervyn Williams at the press conference yesterday explained that with the absence of a voter’s register and changes to boundaries of constituencies, it is unclear to parties how to select their candidates.
He advanced the argument that while it is a requirement for candidates to come from their constituency, if there are changes in the boundaries unknown to them, they face being disqualified from contesting.
Last week, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Alliance for Change (AFC) said that after much debate it had arrived at a consensus that the party will not contest the upcoming LGE without changes to the list of electors.
The AFC which is currently in a partnership with APNU had taken part in the 2018 local government elections on its own.
Some $2.9 billion has been allocated to GECOM for preparatory works to ensure the successful planning and execution of LGE.
