Latest update December 16th, 2024 9:00 AM
Opposition hails victory in strongholds as major rebuke to PPP/C
By: Shervin Belgrave
Kaieteur News – Opposition leader, Aubrey Norton on Tuesday admitted that his party, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has lost “a few battles” in Monday’s Local Government Elections, but said being able to hold onto its strongholds is a major rebuke to the ruling PPP/C.
Despite the minor losses in some areas, Norton is happy that APNU was able to retain almost of all of its strongholds in Linden, New Amsterdam and Georgetown, which the PPP/C had targeted with massive campaigning and spending. “A few battles might have been lost but I also have no doubt that we won the war”, Norton told reporters during press conference held at Congress Place.
General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Bharrat Jagdeo, while campaigning for his party had stated APNU is worried over losing its strongholds because the PPP/C is making major inroads. Jagdeo at his party’s press conference on Tuesday maintained that his party did make an impact in APNU’s strongholds despite losing in those areas.
Bad governance
Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton
Norton said that for him, victory in the strongholds shows that his supporters have rejected the PPP/C for its “bad governance and corrupt practices”. The people of Guyana do not want a one-party state…they have rejected the PPP… The people of the Guyana reject the PPP’s attempt at domination and control… So we see it as a victory not only for APNU but for the entire country”, Norton said. While the PPP/C boasts of winning a “landslide” victory at the polls securing 66 out of 80 local authorities areas, Norton said this must be put in its correct perspective as his party did not contest in a number of these areas. “We said from the inception that we were not contesting all the areas and for him to come with that (landslide) is disingenuous” Norton related.
When asked if he is concerned that the PPP/C did make some inroads in areas that have been traditionally held by APNU, the Opposition Leader said that he is not worried, adding: “ I don’t think that is the issue, what Jagdeo is seeking to do is shift the goal post. Remember he set the goal posts, we are going to beat the APNU in New Amsterdam; we are going to beat them in Georgetown… when you get blows, you now start talking about 66 (the number of local government authorities won by the PPP/C).
One of the towns that PPP/C might have made some inroads might be Bartica, Region Seven. APNU has a large support base in Bartica and although it was a close fight, the PPP/C, based on the results uploaded to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) website, gained 183 more votes than the opposition. The APNU won five of the nine constituency seats, with PPP securing four. For the proportional representation, the PPP secured five seats, while the opposition received four. This has resulted with both parties tied at nine seats each.
Nevertheless, Norton noted that this year’s Local Government Elections (LGE) was just a “dry run” and just the beginning of plans to beat the PPP/C at the 2025 Regional and General Elections. “We see this as the beginning of the work towards the General and Regional Elections and we will continue to mobilise and organise our supporters to ensure that when we come to the next general and regional elections, we are going to beat the People’s Progressive Party hands down,” Norton said.
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