Some of the political parties aiming to contest the upcoming elections in September have started to camp out at the Umana Yana for Monday’s Nomination Day process.

On Monday, the contesting parties will have to hand in their list of candidates for the elections along with the signatures of the nominators for the various candidates and lists.

The APNU was first in line at the camping out on Monday and the other parties have been joining the cue since then.

APNU Member, Robin Gilgeous, told News Source that the Nomination Day process is an important one, and it is also important to be in line early to hand in those nomination documents, since there is small window for any changes that might have to be made.

“Every political party has to submit a list, the top up, the geographic and the regional, and in those lists, there are signatures that the list will have to get, and so parties cannot have the same signatures. And so you only have a short period of time if a party has been found with somebody’s signature that was already submitted and that is the reason why we are here, because we believe if our agents have been working so hard and putting the people first then we should be here first, so that our list is the first to enter GECOM”, he said.

The APNU launched its campaign last Sunday and has expressed its confidence of winning the upcoming elections.

The Alliance for Change is also camped out at the Umana Yana. One of that party’s representatives, Joel Danrade, said the party wanted to also be early to enter the nomination day process on Monday.

“The purpose of our presence here, is basically to secure the spots for Nomination Day which is Monday and that’s why we are here to secure that spot. Now the PPP has made mention that there were here before us and they had it on their page. I am not sure what is the motive behind the post, but we are still here to secure that position and we are not going to go until nomination day”, the AFC representative said.

When News Source visited the scene outside the Umana Yana today, there were no representatives from the PPP.

However some of the first time parties have already secured their spot to hand in their lists early.

According to Jan Fortune of the Assembly for Liberty and Prosperity, the ALP is set and ready for Nomination Day. She said though its the party’s first electoral outing, the membership is prepared.

“Most of our party members and our executive, we are fresh and we are new, and this is our first time and its our first experience, and we are having a great time…we are number three and anybody else lapse, we can go to number two or number one”, Ms. Fortune said.

Meanwhile, the Forward Guyana Movement, which has brought together three new political parties, is excited about the excitement in the air with the upcoming elections. Party representative Malika Ramsey said the Forward Guyana Movement is motivated and ready for the process.

“It is a good thing because our people are motivated, and not just the people from the Forward Guyana Movement but all of the political parties, especially the smaller parties that some people are beating up on. It shows that everybody wants to be involved and we want to ensure that our lists get there in tact, so that there is nothing that would happen to make us pull a list because it is too late”, Ramsey said.

The Guyana Elections Commission has approved the symbols for a total of 21 political parties that have expressed an interest in contesting the upcoming polls.

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