Latest update April 17th, 2025 9:50 AM
Guyana elections attract Regional, Int’l buzz
As most of Guyana returns to some semblance of normalcy it has become obvious that the 2015 General and Regional elections proved to have garnered buzz not only in our 83,000 square miles but outside of it.
BBC has been one of the international news agencies closely following Guyana’s 2015 General and Regional elections.
In recent months, Guyana has been slowly gaining attention for its political situation. The interest in Guyana’s politics picked up when Former President Donald Ramotar prorogued the country’s tenth Parliament to avoid a No-Confidence Motion brought against his government by the then opposition parties. Ramotar subsequently announced a date for elections.
However, the most attention seemed to come on May 11 when thousands of Guyanese went out to the polls to elect the new government. Guyanese had been waiting with bated breath for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to release results for the elections.
Guyanese were not the only ones closely watching the elections though; since Monday, several Regional and International news entities have been closely following the proceedings in Guyana.
Some of these entities include CCTV, the BBC, Yahoo! News, the Trinidad Guardian, the Jamaica Observer, CMC and the Trinidad Express.
Furthermore, Regional and International agencies have been keeping in contact with local journalists to bring them up to date on the elections happenings. This newspaper has been in contact with at least two radio stations, one in the United States and one in Trinidad to allow them to stay on the ball with the 2015 elections.
Meanwhile, while some entities have chosen to remain outside of Guyana and keep in contact with local agencies, others have opted to send reporters here to experience the elections atmosphere on the ground.
Some of the agencies that have sent journalists to Guyana are the CMC and the CCTV. Journalists from these agencies have not only been attending press conferences held by GECOM but have also been in the streets experiencing the atmosphere firsthand.
The CCTV has been paying attention to this year’s General and Regional elections in Guyana.
Analysts opined that the buzz might have surfaced due to the fact that a close race between the APNU+AFC coalition and the PPP/C had been expected.
During the 2011 elections, the PPP/C became the first minority government in Guyana’s history. Since then, the former government and the then opposition had been constantly butting heads over the administration of the nation.
This head butting subsequently led to the No-Confidence Motion being moved against the government and which ultimately saw early elections in Guyana. Later, the opposition forces, APNU and AFC, joined forces to form a coalition to challenge the 23 year rule of the PPP/C.
Meanwhile, observers had been interested in seeing whether 2015 would see a shift in Guyanese voting along racial lines now that a multi-racial coalition was formed.
Interest was also gained when Former US President Jimmy Carter along with a number of international observer groups made their way to Guyana to observe the elections.
News entities were therefore compelled to see how the hotly contested elections would turn out.
The interest is expected to be kept on us as Guyana and the world watch the new government’s administration of the country, at least for the next five years.
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