Guyana, St Lucia elections on Monday

About a half a million people in Guyana are eligible to vote Monday in the country's national elections that will determine who will be the successor to President Bharrat Jagdeo.

Jagdeo is not eligible to run for a third term.

The contest for the Presiency is among three political groups:

• The governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP)
• A Partnership For National Unity (APNU)
• The Alliance For Change, a new multi-racial organisation

The PPP candidate is economist Donald Ramotar, 61. He has never held elected political office. He served as the party's general secretary for more than a decade.

The flag bearer for the APNU is retired Brigadier General and respected historian David Granger, 66.

Attorney Khemraj Ramjattan, 50, is the presidential candidate for the AFC. He is a former leading executive of the PPP but walked out on the PPP accusing the party of corruption.

Monday is also election day in St Lucia where the United Workers' Party (UWP) is seeking re-election. Prime Minister Stephanson King is running on his government's record of sound economic performance despite the global crisis that hit two years after he took office.

“It has not been an easy road for the Government and people of Saint Lucia, but through caring, visionary, competent leadership, the UWP has improved the country’s economic management performance and thereby strengthened the country’s position as the leading economy in the OECS,” King told supporters during the campaign, adding that the local economy grew by 4.4 per cent last year with inflation at 1.9 per cent.

Opposition leader Dr. Kenny Anthony has accused the government of engaging in corruption and is urging electors to return his party to office.

“It has to be team St. Lucia as it cannot be otherwise, and how can it be otherwise when we face the prospect of a 24 per cent rate of unemployment in this country. In other words what I am trying to say to you is that the future of this country is really going to be in our hands,” Anthony said.

A total of 151,734 people are eligible to choose representatives for the 17 seats in Parliament. The UWP had 11 seats is the previous parliament. The St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) held the other six.