PPP projects major inroads in APNU-strongholds: GT, Mahdia, Bartica, NA

…Party projected to win over 65 of 80 LAAs

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has swept a significant majority of the Local Authority Areas (LAAs) at this year’s Local Government Elections (LGE), with the Party making momentous inroads in townships such as Georgetown, Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); and Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) – which are all considered A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) strongholds.

PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo told a press conference late Monday night that it was an “extremely big night” for the party based on the preliminary results which show the Party winning over 65 of the 80 LAAs being contest.
In fact, he said the Party may ‘pick up’ some of the townships that were previously dominated by an APNU/Alliance For Change (AFC) leadership.
“We’re tabulating now based on the basis of WhatsApp images of SoPs [Statements of Poll)that have come in, but I want to wait until all the SoPs come here where we can actually sit with them and go through these…and then you will see the actual results that we know [will] show major inroads in the city, major inroads in New Amsterdam, Bartica and Mahdia. We may be tied in these two areas from our preliminary results, but we have the plurality of the votes,” Jagdeo explained.
“We won more votes than APNU in those areas on the basis of the preliminary results that came into us. These are two towns that are controlled by APNU, we believe, although they might be tied now, because of us winning the plurality of the votes, we will win these areas,” he added.
“This is clearly a result that we were hoping we’d get. We were working towards [it] and it materialised…”
Based on information reaching this publication, there was a tie between the PPP and APNU in the four constituencies while under the Proportional Representation (PR) system, the PPP leads by three votes.
In Georgetown, Jagdeo said the Party was projected to win more constituencies as compared with 2018 and that the vote differential between the PPP and APNU would be “significantly small”.
“So, it means we will do extremely well in Georgetown,” the PPP GS said.
“In New Amsterdam too, it’s the same thing. There are many, many areas in New Amsterdam, we went neck-to-neck with APNU in what was traditionally, where we would get 10 votes in the past in a particular polling place, we’re almost getting equal numbers with APNU in many of those areas. So, the results have been great even in New Amsterdam,” he further explained.
Major inroads, he explained, were also made in Kwakwani, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). Based on information reaching this publication, the PPP has doubled its seats in that community, moving up from two to four. “We lost by a tiny margin…,” Jagdeo shared.
Moreover, based on the preliminary results, the Party also retained majority leadership in the Region One (Barima-Waini) townships of Port Kaituma and Mabaruma.
The PPP has also retained majority leadership in Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), with that municipality not being contested.
Meanwhile, the PPP GS said the preliminary results clearly show that the PPP waged a good campaign.
“Regardless of the results today, the PPP has already demonstrated that it is the only multi-ethnic party that is capable of bringing a crowd together…I made it clear too that it is very difficult to win in the stronghold of another party, but we made a valiant attempt. We waged a good campaign. The results will be evident to everyone,” he expressed.

New Amsterdam
In New Amsterdam, APNU is projected to retain majority control of the township, having already won four of the seven constituencies based on SoPs posted outside of polling stations after tabulation on Monday.
The PPP is projected to have won two of the constituencies while up to press time, counting was still ongoing in the remaining area.
Despite a slow start at the open of polls in the township, voting picked up during the course of the day. This publication was told that within the first three hours of voting, over 3660 of the 14,154 registered voters in New Amsterdam had cast a ballot.
Meanwhile, in the town of Rose Hall, APNU is projected to have lost three seats while the PPP is forecast to increase its dominance in that town. The PPP is projected to have won six of the seven constituencies, according to the SoPs.

Challenges
The PPP GS revealed that there were a “couple of areas” which the Party believes may warrant a recount.
“Because we believe that the SoP was made in error and it didn’t reflect the tally sheet, so the only way you can actually fix that now is by getting a recount of a few of those boxes…one is in New Amsterdam,” Jagdeo said.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is the official entity to declare the results of LGE 2023. The Commission had assured that some results would have been available as early as Monday night; however, up to press time, no official information was released. By law, GECOM has five days within which to release the results.