Attorney General Anil Nandlall believes that internal setbacks and a fear of poor performance are the real motives behind the APNU+AFC coalition opposition’s objections to the voters’ list that have effectively stalled local government polls, previously slated for March 2023.
The coalition had initially contended that the current list was extracted from the list for general and regional elections and does not consider the residency requirement for electors, but Nandlall said fresh objections to the Local Government Minister creating new boundaries are baseless.
Nandlall reasoned that coalition partner – the Alliance for Change (AFC) – was faced with an almost non-existent membership while the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is on its way there.
“They [the AFC] are not a political party. They are a grouping of individuals who are in the Parliament.
“The PNC [People’s National Congress] is totally in shambles. It’s a disorganised, weak PNC and the AFC has a total of about 20 persons…they too are not organised,” Nandlall said Tuesday during his ‘Issues in the News’ commentary on his Facebook page.
The Attorney General also believes the coalition is penniless.
“I suspect they have no money whatsoever. The people have begun to realise that they are a visionless and incompetent grouping who can’t even represent them in Parliament or anywhere else.
“They can’t inspire anybody anymore. They don’t have any mass ability to pull any crowd anywhere. They are in a state of decay and they don’t want local government elections,” he added.
The APNU+AFC has been attempting to rebuild and salvage its support bases following its failed attempts to change the outcome of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Nandlall projects a resounding victory for the PPP/C and said the local government polls will no doubt prove that the APNU+AFC has lost its way.
He said the issue of a bloated list is a distraction.
In dealing with the substantive query about the demarcation of boundaries, Nandlall argued that the Minister of Local Government is rightfully authorised to do so.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) said last week that it was still discussing the issue.
“The power to divide Guyana is a power that lies with the Minister of Local Government…whether into villages, regions or cooperative units,” the AG noted.
He clarified, however, that the power to adjust electoral divisions to suit the physical demarcation set out by the Minister is the duty of GECOM.
