Vowing to shake up the status quo, the two political parties being led by women submitted their Lists of Candidates to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) today for the upcoming elections. The Forward Guyana Movement is headed by Amanza Walton-Desir and the Assembly for Liberty and Prosperity is headed by Simona Broomes.

Presidential Candidate for Forward Guyana Movement, Amanza Walton-Desir, said her movement is not about window dressing, but about real change. She said she is confident that the change is coming.

“Our agenda is to disrupt because we are not into window dressing. We have a collection of people, as you can see by my brother Shazaam, who is all the way from 79 Village on the Corentyne. So, we will not do the optics for the optics sake. What we are looking for, are people who with the spirit and the heart to forward the agenda that we have for Guyana. And that is to build a country where there is inclusivity, where there is equity, and where there is a multiplicity of representation in Parliament. We are deeply concern that for the last 60 years, we have been doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” Walton-Desir said.

The FGM Leader said the winner takes all system does not work, and the Forward Guyana Movement is prepared to make that change.

Walton-Desir said approximately 67% of the party’s list is made up of women.

“Sixty-seven percent female, and we are talking about every race, across age limits and groups. We have persons with disability, who have called to sign up. So we believe the spirit of what we are doing here in Guyana is catching on. I believe that we provide a very credible alternative and I stress the word credible alternative to the people of Guyana,” Walton-Desir said.

She said with limited resources including, her party has been able to pull support from 7 of the 10 Regions. The Forward Guyana Movement will not be contesting the elections in Regions Seven, Eight and Nine.

Meanwhile, sporting her party’s colour – blue – ALP’s Presidential Candidate Simona Broomes chanted her party’s name, as she was lifted in to the Umana Yana to hand in her party’s list.

The ALP will be contesting the elections in six of the electoral districts.

“We are very confident. We are very confident. We are fully confident because we’ve made the list. We came through the process…and we will be contesting in six regions, regional and geographical. We meet the requirement for the top up and that in itself speaks to the confidence. And we are not only confident, we are ready,” Broomes said.

The party is not contesting the elections in Regions One, Two, Eight and Nine.

The party was hoping to contest in all 10 Regions. However, according to Broomes, while the party started the process of acquiring candidates and nominators in those four districts, it encountered challenges when GECOM took a decision to update the nomination form at the last minute.

Notwithstanding those challenges, Broomes said she is confident in the party’s List of Candidates, noting that it is a mixture of women and men, the majority of whom are young.

“Our list is different because our list comprise of a lot of youth. You know, the constitution speaks to one-third being women, we have not only included that but one-third being youth. We have a lot of young people on the list and we come together, really for this good change, from different constituencies and from the constituencies that I was out there really working and see and look at poverty in the face of poverty, and having real people from these communities coming forward to bring that good change, and I believe that is a wonderful place to start from,” Broomes told reporters.

Declaring that change is coming, Broomes said ALP will be the voice of the voiceless.

Both Broomes and Walton-Desir are former members of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR). Walton-Desir served in the last Parliament under the APNU+AFC before resigning from both the Parliament and the PNCR. Broomes is a former Minister under the APNU+AFC Government.

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