A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) performance at the recently held Local Government Elections (LGE), which saw them gain only 34 per cent of the vote, has served as a reality check for the Government.
This assertion was made by Minister of State and Government’s designated spokesperson, Joseph Harmon, on Friday. Harmon acknowledged the importance of taking stock from and analysing whatever message the electorate sends at the polls.
“As political parties, it’s very important that you look and analyse the results of the elections. I think it has been a reality check and therefore you have to pay attention to what the people are saying. It’s not like we haven’t been doing so, but sometimes you go out there and you talk to people and you miss some in the exchanges.
Because LGE are so diversified you can actually speak to issues as they affect communities, as opposed to a General Elections where the numbers are general.
According to Minister of State Joseph Harmon, LGE results were a reality check
So you can now look to what the communities are saying and speak to that with the way your budget is structured and the way in which you do your outreaches to these communities. So we did look at these and we had a review and the review actually said to us a number of things.”
Harmon referred to the elections as a ‘barometer’ by which they could gauge the mood of the populace. According to Harmon, Government has reviewed the elections and assimilated the results. Despite all this, however, Harmon does not feel that the election results are necessarily an indictment on the coalition Government.
“In so far as it being a census on the coalition Government, I think that may not necessarily be an accurate statement. If you recognise the turn out, the turnout was low. And what you’re looking at were percentages of low turnout. But as I said, it has actually given us a guide about how to move forward.”
At the 2018 LGE held earlier this month, the governing coalition parties, particularly the Alliance For Change (AFC) received heavy defeats at the hands of the People’s Progressive Party when the people were given their chance to have their say.
Official results from the Guyana Elections Commission show that the People’s Progressive Party won 61 per cent of the vote (122,307). The A Partnership for National Unity trails behind with 34 per cent (68,060). The AFC, which had previously said it won 10 per cent, only netted four per cent of the votes (8719).
Soon after the November 12, 2018 LGE, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo announced the filing of a no-confidence motion against the Government. He later described the defeats the coalition sustained as a no-confidence vote from the people themselves.
Out of 572,531 people registered to vote, only 208,534 actually came out to exercise their franchise. This is a turnout of 36 per cent. When LGE were last held in 2016, the turnout was 47 per cent.
