LGE 2023: Maintaining control of N/A, Linden, G/T was utmost priority – Norton

…says not worried about inroads made by PPP/C

Despite having lost significant votes and in some cases, Council seats in some of its strongholds, Leader of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Aubrey Norton claims that he is not worried about the results of this year’s Local Government Elections and the prospects it holds for the national polls in 2025.
Norton told a press conference on Tuesday that he is pleased with his party’s performance, particularly the fact that they retained control of their strongholds: Georgetown, Linden, and New Amsterdam.
“For us, this is a victory for the people of Guyana. The people of Guyana do not want a one-party State…we see it as a victory not only for the APNU but for the people of this country,” Norton expressed.
But the results show that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has gained more seats than it did in 2018 in some of the APNU strongholds. These include Georgetown, Linden, New Amsterdam, Mahdia and Bartica.
Confirmed results from Linden show that APNU won 14 seats, while PPP won two, both from the Proportional Representation list. When LGE was last held in 2018, PPP had won just one seat in Linden, while APNU won 13 and the Alliance For Change (AFC) won two.
Preliminary results also suggest that PPP gained 12,265 votes in Georgetown. In 2018, PPP was only able to gain 6813 votes in Georgetown. In New Amsterdam, preliminary results indicate that PPP won three more seats this year than they did in 2018.
Norton was asked about the PPP’s inroads in APNU strongholds. He was also asked about Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s projections that the PPP would win more than 60 out of 80 Local Authority Areas.
According to Norton, however, the PNC is not deeply concerned about PPP’s inroads in its strongholds, nor the overall percentage of areas the PPP wins. In fact, he was adamant that while the APNU lost a few battles, they’ve “won the war.”
“[I’m] not deeply concerned… I wouldn’t be worried. What we will do is take our time and ensure that we continue to sensitise people so that by the next election, they [PPP] will diminish…,” Norton contended.
“I will check the data but for now, I don’t think that is the issue. What Jagdeo’s seeking to do is shift the goalpost. Remember he set the goalpost. We’re going to beat the APNU in Linden. We’re going to beat them in Georgetown. We’re going to beat them in New Amsterdam. When you get blows, you now start talking about 65 and 85. We said from the inception that we weren’t contesting in many areas… so again, I’m not worried.”
Norton said the results of the LGE are not indicative of what could come at the polls in 2025 since the APNU will be contesting nationally at the General and Regional Elections. APNU only contested in some of the Local Authority Areas at the local government polls this year, claiming that it was a ‘strategic move’.
“We did an analysis of the situation… we thought it to be strategically important to focus on our strongholds, make inroads in some areas. Our strategy will not be limited. In the national elections, we will contest in every area. But we thought in the present circumstances, we should not spread ourselves thin. We should focus on those areas we thought were key.”
Meanwhile, PPP and APNU tied for seats in Bartica and Mahdia, with the position of chairmanship likely to be decided from the plurality of votes. The PPP, based on the preliminaries, however, gained the majority votes in those towns. And according to Norton, there will be no runoff to determine the final results. He claimed that some people have been calling about this.
“My instructions to Bartica and Mahdia are that there should be no runoff. There’s no provision for it in the Constitution. What has to happen is that the two sides engage and since I am the Chair of the APNU, I will lead that engagement. And then we seek to solve that problem and move forward,” Norton said. (G-3)