Having boasted that it has the most diverse group of candidates contesting the upcoming Local Government Elections, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has complained that persons on its list are being bullied to withdraw their support for the party.
In a statement on Thursday evening, the PPP/C disclosed that several residents of Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) – District #5 – have notified the party that they are being bullied by members of the PNC-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Opposition.
Those being accused of “intimidatory tactics and bullyism” are Opposition Members of Parliament Vinceroy Jordan, APNU’s Chief Scrutineer Carol Smith-Joseph, and Darren Wade.
“These notorious characters are visiting the homes of persons in Region Five whose names appear on the PPP/C Backers’ List and threatening them, forcing them to withdraw their names by signing pre-prepared documents. These persons related that they are now scared for their lives and that of their families,” the PPP related.
Thursday’s missive further stated, “The party condemns in the strongest possible terms, these acts of bullyism, which is typical of the PNC/APNU, particularly in the case of the notorious Carol Smith-Joseph. We call on residents from across the country to be vigilant and to resist any such further attempts, as we bring this matter to the attention of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Elections Commission.”
This comes on the heels of Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, during a press conference earlier on Thursday alleging, on the other hand, that the PPP/C has forged the names of several persons on its list.
In fact, the People’s National Congress Reform – the leading party in the APNU – in a subsequent statement claimed that the PPP submitted the names of several dozens of electors as signatories to its LGE list of candidates without their knowledge and consent.
The PNCR said most of these persons have since written to or approached in person, the GECOM Returning Officer for the District to have their names removed from the PPP’s list.
Moreover, the Opposition party released some of these letters of objection. However, one of those letters is in the name of Rosaline Carmichael, whom the PPP had identified as its Candidate for the Union\Naarstigheid Local Authority Area (LAA) in Region Five.
While the PNC is claiming that her name was fraudulently placed on the PPP’s list, Carmichael has since issued a statement testifying that her signatures were obtained “voluntarily and lawfully.”
“I am a constituency candidate of the People’s Progressive Party Civic for the Union/Naarstigheid NDC. During the month of January 2023, I obtained voluntarily, the requisite signatures of residents in my community in support of my candidacy for the June 12th, 2023 Local Government Elections. At no time did I engage in any unlawful conduct in obtaining the said signatures,” Carmichael detailed in a statement on Thursday.
Forgery
Meanwhile, PPP General Secretary Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, during a press conference on Thursday, also highlighted instances of APNU forging the names of candidates, without their knowledge, on its list across the country including in areas where the opposition traditionally has a stronghold.
In fact, Jagdeo read a statement from a resident of Linden, Marsha Mckinnon, who wrote the Return Officer there to remove her name from APNU’s list.
“We need to send a signal to anyone who’s contesting these elections – all the parties, the individuals as well as the other groups – that they should not commit fraud. If they’re seeking to represent the people of this country, they must not engage in a fraudulent process to contest these elections,” Jagdeo declared.
To this end, the PPP General Secretary noted that while his party is taking steps to address this matter, he called on persons who found their names as a candidate on the party’s lists without their consent to make a report with the police and also indicate same to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
According to the PPP in its Thursday missive, these actions by the Opposition in Region Five are being carried out to divert attention from the fact that the PNC-led APNU is unable to compete in 55 percent of the Constituencies and 24 of the Local Authority Areas (LAAs) across the country as well as to mask the glaring shortcomings of its lists, which include among others, a lack of diversity in age and ethnicity.
Jagdeo had boasted during Thursday’s press conference that the PPP is the only party with the most diverse list of over 2000 candidates with more than 25,000 backers for the upcoming local government polls in June.
Of the 2020 Candidates on the PPP’s list, some 1,161 are men and 859 women. A further breakdown by age groups shows that some 613 are between 18 to 35 years, 691 are between 36 to 50 years, and 716 are over 50 years.
These candidates are also comprised of 84 Amerindians, 187 persons of mixed races, 341 Afro-Guyanese, and 1,408 Indo-Guyanese.
“In every local area that we’re contesting, you can see [diversity in] the ethnic breakdown, the gender breakdown, and age in our list. Now, when you look at APNU’s list, the APNU’s list lacks diversity in almost every area… We have been able to field candidates from around the country – people from different races – and no, they were not paid to be candidates or to be supporters,” Jagdeo stated.
In fact, the PPP GS outlined that 98 per cent of his party’s list in both Linden and Kwakwani – traditional strongholds of the PNC in Region 10 – is comprised of both Afro-Guyanese and Amerindians.
Similarly, the bulk of the party’s list of Candidates for Georgetown are Afro-Guyanese while the New Amsterdam and Rose Hall, Region Six, the list is also balanced – both being longstanding PNC-controlled municipalities.
“[We’re] the only party that has been able to cross a threshold to get their list of Candidates looking like Guyana,” Jagdeo posited.
On Monday last, contesting parties and groups had to submit their list of candidates and backers to GECOM in preparation for the upcoming local government polls.
While the PPP will be contesting all 610 constituencies across the country, the main opposition party – the PNC-led APNU – is only contesting some 279 constituencies, something which Jagdeo has described as disastrous under the Aubrey Norton leadership.
“For a national party like the APNU to contest in only 45 per cent of the constituencies in the country is a total disaster for that party under this leadership,” Jagdeo noted.
In total, APNU is not contesting 24 of the 80 LAAs across Guyana.
Moreover, the PPP General Secretary went onto outline that only about 327 constituencies in total are being contested across the country, leaving over 280 uncontested constituencies where his party is running.
“When we look at how many constituencies are being contested by APNU and other groups in the country, it will be about 327 of the 610… So, what this means is that there will be no contest in about 283 of the 610 constituencies. That means that the PPP has already won those constituencies because we contested in all 610 right across the country,” Jagdeo noted.
At the last LGE held in November 2018, the then PPP/C Opposition had secured 52 of the 80 LAAs. This had followed the holding of the 2016 local government polls, where the PPP/C had also claimed the majority of the LAAs.
