Norton downplays ‘battles lost’ by APNU in Local Gov’t elections

Chairman of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on Tuesday downplayed losses suffered by the Coalition in the Local Government Elections, choosing to hype up wins in areas which are traditional strongholds.

Based on results reported by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), APNU only managed to clinch 14 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs).

This is lower than the 23 LAAs won in the 2018 Local Government Elections.

Contrastingly, the PPP/C is shown to have won 66 LAAs which is equivalent to about 82.5 per cent of the LAAs across the country.

But Norton doesn’t believe those are concerning figures.

“This was a victory for grassroot work.

“… we have no doubt that a few battles might have been lost…but we have no doubt that we won the war,” Norton told a press conference on Tuesday.

According to him, the party directed its limited resources towards maintaining control in its strongholds as opposed to spreading themselves thin. He believes this was a smart decision because the PPP/C, which occupies the central government, has state resources at its disposal.

The PPP/C won all 10 seats in the municipality of Lethem after there was no contest there. Lethem was one of 13 LAAs where the PPP/C was the only party that submitted a list of candidates. Previously, APNU had four seats there.

Now that it believes it has done well at the Local Government polls, Norton said the party will be focusing on contesting across the country at the next General and Regional elections. These elections are due in 2025.

There, Norton was confident that APNU could defeat the incumbent PPP/C.

He, however, opted not to reveal the party’s strategy for winning those elections.

“Strategy for me must be kept and disclosed only when it is necessary to disclose…. What we will do strategically will result in victory against the PPP/C,” Norton said.

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