13 political parties submit nominations for March 2 elections

Nomination Day

…as small parties accuse APNU/AFC of “bullyism”

At least two of the new and smaller parties hoping to contest the upcoming elections have accused the governing A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) of “bullyism”.
This is because the coalition was allowed to present their lists of candidates to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ahead of all the other parties, even though some were camping outside of the venue – Umana Yana – since Wednesday.
The political parties were allowed to submit their lists on a first come, first served basis.
But according to the A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and The New Movement (TNM), their representatives were there first.
“That is discriminating against the smaller parties. That is bullyism by the APNU/AFC. They proclaim to be decent and honest people but this shows that they are not,” said Jonathan Yearwood, a representative of ANUG.
He explained that at around 10:00h on Friday, the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, arrived at the venue to open the gates to allow the parties to register their spots.
However, Yearwood said when the parties opened the register, APNU/AFC was already entered.
“How can it be possible that from the time the CEO of GECOM says that the door is opened, and we walk across there, APNU/AFC is already registered there?” he questioned, explaining that his party had been at the venue since Wednesday.
“If they couldn’t abide and wait their own turn, then it shows how much disregard they have for other people in Guyana,” Yearwood asserted.
Prime Ministerial Candidate of TNM, Gerald Forde said his party also felt bullied by the actions of the APNU/AFC.
“We feel disappointed and bullied because these are senior people, senior Statesmen, this is a senior party and they just want to disregard the rules…there is a procedure and that procedure must be followed,” Forde posited.
Similarly, he explained that TNM was camping out since Wednesday.
GECOM’s CEO, when asked to respond, noted that “people say all sorts of things”.
“It’s nice that they were camping here Wednesday [but] I said to all concerned this morning…that January 10 is Nominations Day. If you’re here on the 7th or 6th, good for you [but] I am treating with you on the 10th,” Lowenfield explained.
“I did inform all those assembled that I will be having a system that says number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…I came to the security and that is what was done,” he added.

11 new/small political parties
The APNU/AFC coalition was the first party to submit their lists of candidates to GECOM.
In total, 13 parties submitted lists of candidates; 11 were new or smaller political groupings.
Apart from ANUG and TNM, the others are The Citizenship Initiative (TCI), Change Guyana, the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Fed-Up, People’s Republic Party (PRP), Guyana National Service Party (GNSP), Organisation of the Victory of the People (OVP), National Independent Party (NIP), and the United Republican Party (URP).
ANUG is aiming to contest in both the General and Regional Elections, in seven regions except Regions One (Barima-Waini), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo). Its presidential candidate is Ralph Ramkarran, former Speaker of the National Assembly.
TNM, whose presidential candidate is Dr Asha Kissoon, is hoping to contest in the General Elections in six regions except One, Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), and Nine.
TCI only made submissions to contest in the General Elections in six regions namely Two, Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice). The party’s presidential candidate is Rondha-Ann Lam.
Change Guyana, whose presidential candidate is businessman Robert Badal, is hoping to contest in the General Elections in all regions except One, Seven and Eight.
LJP, headed by former Toshao Lennox Shuman, aims to contest in the General Elections in six regions.
The Fed-Up party will only be vying for seats on the Regional Democratic Councils in Regions Five and Six.
URP, which is headed by Vishnu Bandhu, would have contested in the last elections, however, it failed to win any parliamentary seats.
Since then, the party has been virtually inactive on the political scene.
According to Bandhu, however, his party has been doing work with its supporters.
In order to qualify to contest in the General Elections, these parties need support from at least six of Guyana’s geographical constituencies or administrative regions.
They need at least 150 nominators for each constituency and not more than 45 candidates.
In addition, they have to present a National Top Up List which must include at least 300 nominators countrywide and at least 42 candidates including the presidential candidate.
For those contesting the Regional Elections, they would have had to submit a list of candidates comprising of at least 150 nominators for each constituency, all residing in the said region, and 12 to 36 candidates also from within the region.
If they fail to meet these criteria, the lists will be deemed defective.
If there are problems with the names, such as duplication, the list will also be considered defective.
The parties will then have until January 13 to submit corrected lists. On January 15, GECOM will inform if the lists were approved.
If they are not, parties have until January 16 to file an appeal to the High Court.
However, regardless of any legal proceedings, the approved lists will be gazetted on January 19, thus confirming the number of parties contesting the elections.