Stabroek News
April 16, 2001
Ten of the 27 seats won by the PNC REFORM (PNC/R) at the March 19
general elections will be occupied by women.
The names of the ten were extracted from the PNC/R's national top-up
list and from its regional constituencies' lists to sit in the
National Assembly, informed sources have told Stabroek News.
The names were reportedly submitted late on Thursday and were not
among those gazetted by the Elections Commission at the weekend.
Among the other names extracted from the national top-up list were
three members of the REFORM component. The three are Stanley Ming,
Jerome Khan and Dr George Norton. Three of the women - Deborah Backer,
Volda Lawrence and Clarissa Riehl were extracted from the national
top-up list. The other seven were taken from the constituency lists
and they are Genevieve Allen, Lurlene Nestor and Myrna Peterkin from
Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica); Amna Ally from Region 5
(Mahaica/Berbice); Judith David from Region 7 (Mazaruni/Cuyuni);
Gloria Bancroft from Region 8 (Potaro/Siparuni) and Sandra Adams from
Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice).
The other names extracted from the PNC/R's national top-up lists are
Desmond Hoyte, Robert Corbin, Winston Murray, Deryck Bernard, Lance
Carberry, Raphael Trotman, Dr Dalgleish Joseph and Andy Goveia.
Those extracted from its constituency lists are - Region 1
(Barima/Waini) Ricky Khan; Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) Ivor Allen;
Region Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands) James McAllister;
Region 4 - Vincent Alexander; Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne)
Nazeer Ally; and Region 10 - Abdul Kadir.
Among those not returning to the PNC benches are frontbenchers Kads
Khan, Dunstan Barrow and backbenchers, Joe Hamilton, Andrew Hick,
Aubrey Norton, Sherwood Lowe, Jean Persico and Cyrilda De Jesus.
Returning to the PNC benches after missing the last parliament are
Deryck Bernard and Amna Ally. In the sixth parliament they were
respectively opposition spokespersons on education and home affairs.
Among the newcomers are Alexander, McAllister, Ming, Khan, Dr Norton,
Nestor, national secretary of the Guyana Youth and Students Movement,
Peterkin, one of the party's leading activists on the East Coast
Demerara; David, Allen and Kadir, a former Linden township mayor.
On Thursday, the PPP/C extracted the names of eight women among the
34 candidates it selected to be parliamentarians. Among those omitted
from the names extracted were Ralph Ramkarran and Dr Moti Lall, who
were members of the last parliament and Martin Zephyr who was elected
Speaker following the death of Derek Jagan SC.
Under the electoral regulations, which governed the March 19,
elections, one-third of the names on the parties' national top-up list
and their lists for the ten regional constituencies had to be women.
This provision was implemented in accordance with a recommendation of
the Constitution Reform Commission. There was, however, no stipulation
on the number to be named subsequently to Parliament
The PNC/R won 13 of the 25 seats contested in the ten regional
constituencies and was allocated 14 seats of the 40 national top-up
seats based on the total votes cast for it countrywide. The PPP/C won
11 seats at the constituency level and was allocated 22 of the 40
top-up seats based on its countrywide votes. GAP/WPA won one seat at
the constituency level and was allocated 1 of the 40 top-up seats
based on its countrywide votes and The United Force and ROAR were
awarded 1 seat each of the 40 top-up seats based on their countrywide
votes.