All roads lead to the Returning Officers’ offices

Dear Editor,
In compliance with the legal requirements, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has signalled full preparedness to receive the nominated Lists of Candidates from all individuals, groups, and political parties contesting the 2023 Local Government Elections (LGEs). Therefore, Nominations Day: on Monday, April 17, 2023, should have a buzz of supporting activities as the Representatives submit their credentials.
The PPP/C is in its normal consistency mode, and is exuding full preparedness with its all-inclusive list of carefully selected candidates. Therefore, the party proposes and recommends its balanced teams to work and provide leadership and service delivery support in communities, while advancing a definite continuance of influence towards dominating the results at the upcoming polls. However, notwithstanding the recommendations, the party highly regards citizens’ choices in promoting and sustaining our democratic ideals.
The PNC, on the other side of the divide, along with its cabal backing in the APNU coalition, is bereft of meaningful support, and is still trying to find a fault to challenge the conduct of these elections, or signal its intention to not contest.
It leaves one to wonder what next the PNC/APNU will come up with, in attempting to suppress our collective development as a nation, to support its thematic aggrandisement of a few.
The reasons for the latter are apparent, given the blatant attempts by the PNC+APNU/AFC to steal the Government in 2020. The memories are fresh in citizens’ minds, and severely negatively affect the PNC/APNU’s ability to find credible candidates to contest the 2023 LGEs.
Whether or not the PNC/APNU can field candidates to compete in these elections, its targeted delaying tactics will ultimately fail, as this nation is ready to hold the overdue LGEs. Aside from a few pompous vocals a few months ago, when it attempted to derail the elections by trumped up legal challenges, the PNC/APNU is extremely silent on its preparation to challenge in these 2023 Local Government polls. The PNC has always displayed to its followers that false sense of security: that it can use the Judiciary to frustrate all efforts to hold Elections, and to defend its wrongdoings. The strategy has woefully failed it, and even served to embarrass the lawyers who have been sympathetic to its meaningless cause.
GECOM has done an outstanding job in preparing to hold free and fair LGEs in 2023. Further, all political parties – particularly the two main parties, PPP/C and PNC+APNU coalition – have fielded a full contingent of scrutineers to monitor the Continuous Registration process and the Claims and Objections’ verification of the List. The preceding augers well for GECOM’s delivery of transparency and openness to the process, and does not leave any room for frivolous legal challenges from the PNC.
On the basis mentioned above, one can easily be satisfied that the final Register of Voters List for these LGEs was prepared correctly, and verified by the political scrutineers, who were all paid. Therefore, we must commend GECOM for following the process thoroughly, and ensuring the proper authentication of all the transactions by the signatures of political party scrutineers. Thus, this Voters List evidences the best possible preparation for holding the upcoming LGEs.
The PPP/C will contest all 70 Neighborhood Democratic Councils and 10 Municipal Councils. The PPP/C’s well-balanced List of Representatives will give it a significant advantage in accumulating votes. In this sense, the party continues to focus on working even harder with ministers, and walking the ground to work with citizens and community leaders, to advance development across the country.
Therefore, following the presentation of the List of Candidates on Nominations Day, citizens countrywide can expect engagements from PPPC leaders and supporters to be intensified in various forms, including meetings and house-to-house visits. Focal points to these interactions would not be limited to, but likely provide, updates concerning plans at the Village, Neighbourhood Democratic, and Municipal levels; address concerns, where possible; and obtain consultative feedback from the grassroots level.
Naturally, the promotion of candidates comes as part of the package, as it would increase awareness of our representatives who would be working at the Council level. The approach would also provide appropriate information to enable residents to make rational choices at the polls. It is unlikely that the electorate would waste their ballots, and likely they would vote for the best candidates. Therefore, these LGEs would reveal the well-anticipated feedback on PPPC’s One Guyana agenda.

Sincerely,
Neil Kumar