Guyana holds general election as candidates vie for control of country’s oil wealth
GEORGETOWN Guyana AP Dozens of voters in Guyana stood in line by dawn on Monday to participate in what plenty of say is the South American country s preponderance consequential voting process in decades given that whichever party wins will oversee billion in annual revenue from offshore oil and gas production In latest years Guyana has transformed from a country traditionally dependent on gold sugar rice bauxite and timber to one reaping the windfall of nearly barrels of oil produced daily The World Bank has noted that Guyana has the world s fastest growing financial market with gross domestic product increases averaging around annually in the past six years ExxonMobil which is leading an international consortium has applications for four more oil fields as the promise of even greater revenue looms Two dominant parties and a newcomer Guyana s electoral commission has printed ballots for six parties but the greater part in the diverse nation believe the electoral contest is a contest among the governing Indo-dominated People s Progressive Party of President Irfaan Ali the Afro-supported main opposition A Partnership for National Unity and upstart newcomer mixed-race party We Invest In Nationhood led by U S government-sanctioned Guyanese businessman Azruddin Mohamed who comes from one of the country s wealthiest families For Ali a -year-old urban planner this is the preponderance pivotal electoral process since independence from Britain in as he pleaded with voters to give me a second term His party trumped A Partnership for Nation Unity in the elections We ask you to trust us once more to deliver greater better faster and more efficiently Ali communicated jubilant supporters at a coastal rally late Saturday We have the experience and you can trust us to lead you into the bright prosperous future ahead of us Meanwhile A Partnership for Nation Unity led by -year-old political scientist Aubrey Norton has accused Ali s party of corruption nepotism harassment of opposition voices and alleged irresponsible use of oil sector revenues Our aim is to restore decency in Guyana to restore law and order and to lift the people of Guyana out of poverty We want to build a society that truly serves its people and ensures that every Guyanese benefits from our nation s oil wealth Norton communicated a massive final rally Evelyn Crawford a -year-old retiree mentioned she voted for the opposition The monthly state pension for people over of various a month is not enough for a country flush with oil money she announced What they give us is way not enough I would like to see that people are lifted out of poverty she disclosed as she left a voting center A new party We Invest In Nationhood founded in late May has been well received by first-time and younger voters like DeLinda Henry an Indigenous mother of four from the western Mazaruni Region near Venezuela It is time to try something else other than the PPP and the APNU I am supporting WIN because Mr Mohamed does not need to steal any money He is a billionaire and has lots of his own she disclosed Before Mohamed s party was founded three months ago the race had appeared to be a fight between Guyana s two major parties which have traded power since the early s But Mohamed faces his own struggles Last year the U S Treasury Department sanctioned Mohamed his father their gold-exporting company and a regime official for their roles in residents corruption in a bribery scheme that administration stated ran from to Mohamed has denied the accusations The U S cabinet has commented it is deeply concerned about Mohamed s presidential aspirations as the U S would be forced to avoid contact with committees and agencies on which he might serve We would have to make sure that we didn t work with him specifically Ambassador Nicole Theriot stated reporters in the past few days suggesting U S companies might also avoid doing business with him and Guyana A fight for Parliament The six parties participating in Monday s vote are fighting for the presidency and seats in the -member Parliament along with the chance to control and spend the billions of dollars flowing into state coffers from oil and gas production Several international groups are on the ground to monitor the electoral process including The Carter Center the Organization of American States and members of Caricom a regional bargain bloc In a preelection message The Carter Center complained about the size of Guyana s voter list and the failure of functionaries to release the population census calling this a regrettable lapse which obscures masses understanding of basic population demographics and their promising relation to the size of the voter list There are registered voters in a country with an estimated inhabitants Source
