The new representatives of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) are set to meet this Friday to elect a Mayor and Deputy Mayor. With a majority of Councillors at 21, it is highly likely that a Councillor from the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) will be named as Mayor.
Incumbent Mayor Patricia Chase Green
However, it is not clear who will take on the position, as little has been said following the results of the 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE) which saw the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) securing seven seats whereas it only had two after the 2016 polls.
The coalition’s smaller partner, the Alliance For Change, which went solo at this year’s LGE, garnered only two seats which came from the Proportional Representation (PR) method that was drawn from an overall 28.3 per cent voter turnout in the city.
Efforts to contact the incumbent Mayor, Patricia Chase Green proved futile but in a brief telephone conversation with Deputy Mayor Akeem Peters, he said he would be unable to speak on his prospects for re-election since the new Council has not met.
Town Clerk Royston King was sent on administrative leave following allegations of wide-ranging corruption in City Hall. This resulted in the Local Government Commission (LGC) ordering a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the allegations.
The Mayor has had to testify before the CoI which uncovered many discrepancies within the municipality. While it focused on the actions of Town Clerk Royston King, sections of society expressed the view that Chase Green, having presided over everything, should also take some of the blame.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) results showed that APNU won Georgetown, with Mayor Chase Green’s constituency solidly supporting her. But the PPP has showed improved gains in the city, compared to 2016.
The APNU received a total of 18,127 votes, followed by the PPP, which got 7050, while the AFC received 3059. Of APNU’s 21 seats on the City Council, nine came from the PR and 12 from the First Past the Post components. Back in 2016, the APNU/AFC controlled 25 seats. The PPP received seven seats, including four from the PR component.
Overall, GECOM’s results showed that the PPP won 61 per cent of the LGE with 122,307 votes, with the governing APNU taking 68,060 votes at 34 per cent, while the AFC garnered nearly four per cent of the electorate with 8719 votes.
