By KNEWS

Copyright kaieteurnewsonline

Control of Regions 4, 8 & 10 headed for bitter fight

Sep 18, 2025
News

…seat allocation by GECOM on RDCs gives no party super majority

…collaboration needed for election of chairman, vice chairman

Kaieteur News – With the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) having officially released the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) results from the September 1 elections, it has become clear that in at least three regions, two of the major parties must unite to elect a chairman and vice chairman and also pass motions and other matters.

As published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday, the seat allocations for Regions 4, 8 and 10 will force parties to negotiate and form alliances to elect chairpersons and vice chairpersons.

Regions 4, 8, and 10 have emerged as the most contested. In these areas, the newly formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, led by businessman Azruddin Mohamed, holds a potentially decisive role. Historically, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) controlled Regions 4 and 10, but this year, WIN’s strong showing has turned over the traditional balance of power between those regions.

In Region 4 (Demerara Mahaica), the seat tally shows that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) won a plurality with 17 seats and 87,028 votes, followed by APNU with 9 seats (46,770 votes) and WIN with 8 seats (41,936 votes). The Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) captured 1 seat with 2,689 votes. The opposition parties combined hold just one seat more than the PPP/C, meaning PPP/C cannot dominate decisions alone, it will need coalitions to maintain leadership or the opposition can unite to shut out the PPP/C.

In Region 8 (Potaro-Siparuni), the results reveal an even tighter race. Both the PPP/C and the WIN party secured 7 seats each, while APNU managed to win just 1 seat. The vote totals were approximately 2,847 for PPP/C, 2,558 for WIN, and only 253 for APNU. With no party holding an outright majority, the election of a Regional Chairman will depend on alliances. APNU, holding the balance of power, will now be required to either align with PPP/C or WIN to determine who takes control of the region’s leadership.

For Region 10 (Upper Demerara Berbice), a former stronghold of APNU, saw a dramatic shift, with them losing to WIN. The WIN party won 9 seats with 10,262 votes; APNU followed with 5 seats (5,370 votes); PPP/C got 3 seats (4,197), and FGM managed to grab 1 seat (818 votes). With these numbers, WIN is the favourite to lead, but again must persuade others to form a coalition for formal leadership.

In an interview with Kaieteur News, WIN’s leader, Azruddin Mohamed stated that his party is open to alliances but had not committed to any partnership with a specified party at the time. He emphasised that whichever party approaches WIN first with cooperation will likely be the one they join. He said, “We haven’t had discussions as yet in relation to that. We are good in Region 10 in attaining our chairmanship. We are still leading there. For Region 8, we got to see what APNU will do if they want to come with us or go with the PPP. For Region 4, APNU did not reach to us, we didn’t reach out to them as yet nor did the PPP, so on the way forward with this, we are going to see as it relates to if any parties reach out to us and then we are going decide where to take it from there.”

Meanwhile, APNU member Ganesh Mahipaul said his party will wait for the swearing in of the RDC councillors before deciding its strategy, noting that these situations have arisen in past elections and require careful negotiation.

FGM leader Amanza Walton Desir, when contacted for a comment on collaboration, Walton-Desir refused to comment at the time.

Meanwhile contact made with the Vice President, and Secretary General of the PPP/C Bharrat Jagdeo for a comment on the matter proved futile.

APNU, Aubrey Norton, Azruddin Mohamed, Bharrat Jagdeo, GECOM, PPP/C, Regional Democratic Council, win