Elections race formally begins

Both the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) have hailed their respective party lists as they gear up for the 1 September General and Regional Elections.

Today, a total of seven political parties officially submitted their lists of candidates to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

The successful parties include A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), the Assembly for Liberty and Prosperity (ALP), the Alliance For Change (AFC), Forward Guyana Movement, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), and the Horizon and Star Party.

Nomination Day activities took place at the Umana Yana in Georgetown, and already, GECOM has published the lists outside the Office of the Chief Elections Officer, and the process of scrutinising and verifying the submissions has begun.

This was outlined by government-nominated Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, who spoke to members of the media prior to the parties handing in their lists.

“Perhaps the most important aspect of today’s proceedings is for the Chief Elections Officer to receive lists from parties who intend to contest the elections. Those lists have to satisfy certain statutory requirements. After the receipt of the lists, those lists have to be scrutinised,” he noted.

After submitting its list, General Secretary of the ruling PPP, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that the list was well inclusive.

“We have sugar workers, rice farmers, miners, a lot of professionals. We have about 27 young people below the age of 25 years old. We have a number of others below 40, we have people with experience, almost every profession you can think about,” he said.

Meanwhile, APNU’s Aubrey Norton noted that the party’s list was well balanced.

“It has some grassroots people as well, you have political experience, you have youth,” he said.

Additionally, AFC’s Nigel Hughes told members of the media that the list contains “fresh” as well as experienced candidates.

“We presented a list for all the regions, in all the categories,” he said while noting that the Prime Ministerial candidate will be announced by Friday.

Newly-contesting party, Forward Guyana Movement’s presidential hopeful, Amanza Walton-Desir disclosed that 67 per cent of the party’s candidates are female.

She said the party’s list also includes a dynamic number of youth.

The Guyana Elections Commission had confirmed that 21 political parties were eligible to contest the polls, but qualifying for the national ballot was no easy feat.

From gender balance to regional coverage, the process is being governed by strict rules designed to ensure fairness and representation.