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Chase-Green switches from PNCR to PPP
…but Norton confident of victory in strongholds despite defections
By Rehanna Ramsay
Kaieteur News – Several A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) supporters have joined the ruling People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPPC) for the upcoming Local Government Elections. But Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton appeared unbothered, maintaining that the party will hold onto its strongholds despite a few defections.
The two main parties as well as a number of independent candidates submitted their symbols and list of contestants to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) station at the Critchlow Labour College Woolford Avenue on Monday.
Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton flanked by some of his supporters on Nominations Day
PPPC General Secretary, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo led his party contingent, accompanied by former Mayor of Georgetown and APNU Councillor Patricia Chase-Green, APNU Councillor, Tricia Richards and former Independent City Councillor for the Albouystown/Charlestown Constituency, Malcolm Ferreira.
Other new candidates for the PPPC are former National Cricketer and Businessman, Steven Jacobs, and national footballer, Jeremy Garrett, a former Citizenship Initiative Executive. In an interview with the media, Jagdeo said that the party welcomes all the newcomers. Jagdeo said the party’s candidates across the 80 Local Authority Areas include people from all strata of society, irrespective of their race, religion and creed. The lists, he said, consist, of a lot of women and young people.
“We have fielded over 2,000 candidates and we have about 26,000 backers. So, we are going into this big, right across the country. As you know, even in opposition, we are the only party that contested all of the local government areas across Guyana but this time around we have exceeded those because we have contested every constituency in Guyana now.”
Chase-Green was last elected to the Georgetown City Council under the APNU banner in 2018. In her capacity as Mayor she had complained against the PPP government in the past of stymieing the work of the City Council. “All I would say to the press is that I support One Guyana, unity and progress. That’s all I say for now, One, Guyana, Unity and progress”, Chase-Green said while addressing members of the media when asked about her change of party. Chase-Green believes the municipal elections for Georgetown will see a “clear win” for the PPP.
Unbothered, confident
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the APNU and Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform, Aubrey Norton told the media that he is not too bothered that some of the party members have crossed the floor and joined the PPPC. Norton said he believes the APNU’s support remains solid in its strongholds. Norton who has been coming under criticism from many within his party over his leadership style believes the political work that he has been doing on the ground will see the APNU holding on to its base.
PPPC General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo flanked by some of the Ex APNU party affiliates
“We know from our support base on the ground that they will support us and we will beat the PPP in all of our strongholds and in many other areas,” a confident Norton said. ‘We have been doing our political work on the ground in Georgetown and all around and we will continue to do our political work and we will beat the People’s Progressive Party and that is all that matters,” he added.
As regards, Chase-Green’s defection, Norton said her transition is “absolutely not a blow for APNU.” According to Norton, Chase-Green has not been serving the constituency in which she was elected to represent, that is constituency 12. I am her replacement in that constituency. The residents of constituency 12 elected Patricia Chase-Green both in 2016 and 2018, and if you move around the constituency, you will see Patricia Chase-Green has been absent, no one in the community has been seeing her for the last three or four years, so really she has not been doing what she was elected to do. So, we don’t see it as a blow, in any case she was going to be replaced”, he said.
At the last Local Government Elections in 2018, the APNU won 21 of the 30 seats for the Municipality of Georgetown while the PPPC secured seven (7) seats and the Alliance For Change (AFC) two seats in the mixed system of Proportional Representation and First-Past-The-Post.
- A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPPC), Tricia Richards, Vice President, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
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