Three parties will contest election separately, but will share seats

Jan 19, 2020 News

Three new parties have taken a decision to join their lists for the March election. These are A New and United Guyana (ANUG), the Liberty & Justice Party (LJP), and The New Movement (TNM).

The New Movement Presidential Candidate, Asha Kissoon

A New and United Guyana Presidential Candidate, Ralph Ramkaran

Liberty & Justice Party Presidential Candidate, Lenox Shuman

This ‘joinder’ may be referred to as a coalition; the technicalities of it are not the same as the coalition of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC).
The APNU+AFC Coalition party will contest the elections as a single unit. These three parties, on the other hand, will contest the elections separately.
ANUG Leader Ralph Ramkaran affirmed this in a telephone interview with Kaieteur News yesterday. He explained that the ‘joinder’ is covered under Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act, which states that, “two or more lists of candidates shall be joined for the distribution of seats (but not for the purpose of voting)”.
He said that each party retains its own individual presidential candidate.
However, the ‘joinder’ is meant to ensure that no party gets left behind. Ramkaran said that the parties’ votes will be counted collectively after the election, and the collective vote will determine how many parliamentary seats and local government posts are allocated to the combination of lists.
It is at that juncture that the collective will work out how the seats are distributed.

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