The Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) has made significant inroads in several strongholds of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), including Linden in Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice), where the party has doubled its seat on the Town Council.
At this year’s polls, the PPP’s votes moved from 402 in 2018 to 2,464. “Over 500% increase,” PPP General Secretary Dr Bharrat Jagdeo told a press conference.
As a result, this year, the PPP earned two seats on the Linden Town Council while APNU received 14. Previously, the PPP had one seat. This year, APNU earned 8,002 votes at the polls.
“These are not small numbers. Two thousand voters more is a significant amount of vote,” Jagdeo added.
See results for Linden posted by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on its website: https://gecom.org.gy/public/assets/docs/lge2023/form31s/10.01.pdf
See results for Linden at the 2018 polls: https://gecom.org.gy/public/assets/docs/results/2018%20-%20Local%20Government%20Elections/D10/Linden.pdf
The PPP has been investing significantly in the development of the Linden Township. At a public meeting last month, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo assured that Linden will be at the center of the massive developments coming to Region Ten.
This development ranges from the work being done on the US$190 million Linden to Mabura Hill project, to the 48 bridges being built between Linden and the border.
Speaking to the Soesdyke-Linden Highway rehabilitation project – for which Guyana recently signed a US$200M agreement with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) – as well as the four-lane bridge across Wismar, Jagdeo was optimistic that these works will start by the end of this year.
He had also made it clear that the government has no intention of diverting any trade from Linden.
“There are 48 bridges between Linden and the border. We’re awarding all 48 of them, to build concrete bridges so that trucks can come from Brazil, using the Linden-Lethem Road, passing through Linden. Not diverting the traffic from Linden as they claim the PPP will move it to Berbice. But coming through Linden over a four-lane road, going down to Georgetown and then maybe branching off and going to Berbice.”
