The 2023 Guyanese local elections, officially due since 2020, were held on Monday, June 12, 2023, following the latest delay of the officially biennial polls by three years due to lawsuits and vacanies at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) following the fallout and misconduct of the 2020 Guyanese general election and the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] All 1,220 council seats within 610 constituencies across Guyana's 80 local authority areas (LAAs), comprising 70 neighbourhood democratic councils (NDCs) and 10 municipalities are being conteted. GECOM has stated that voting is not required in 291 constituencies in which the ruling People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has won by acclamation due to no other candidates running against them.^[2][3] As a result the PPP/C has retained control and has won allseats in LAAs such as the NDCs of Leguan, La Jalousie/Nouvelle Flanders, Canals Polder, Little Diamond/Herstelling, Ordnance Fort Lands/ No. 38, Kintyre/No. 37 or Borlam, Kilcoy/Hampshire, Port Mourant/John, Bloomfield/Whim, No. 64/No. 74, the municipality of Lethem and has also gained control of the Aranaputa/ Upper Burro Burro NDC. The PPP/C is hoping to win over A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/People's National Congress Reform (PNCR)opposition strongholds, campaigning heavily in Guyana's capital city, Georgetown, which has remained in APNU/PNCR control since independence from the United Kingdom in 1966. Efforts by the PNCR to postpone or cancel the elections via litigation regarding the electoral roll and local government constituency boundaries, were dismissed by Guyana's High Court in the lead-up to these elections, claiming that, these issues are behind its no-contest of 291 constituencies across the 80 LAAs.^[4] The opposition Alliance for Change (AFC), the junior coalition partner of the APNU, has boycotted the 2023 local elections over similar concerns.^[5]

This article needs to be updated. (June 2023)

Quick Facts All 80 Local Authority Areas Electoral Areas, Leader ...

2023 Guyanese local elections

← 2018 June 12th 2023 2025 →
All 80 Local Authority Areas Electoral Areas
Opinion polls
Leader Bharrat Jagdeo Aubrey Norton Party PPP/C APNU Leader since 7 January 2017 18 December 2021 Last election 122,307 votes, 60.5% 52 Local Authority Areas 68,060 votes, 33.7% 23 Local Authority Areas

Close

For the last election in 2018, there were 1192 council seats in 596 constituencies, across Guyana's 80 local authority areas, comprising 70 neighbourhood democratic council (NDCs) and 10 municipalities.^[6][7]

The major political parties are defending the following numbers of electoral districts from local authority areas on election day:

• A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – 68,060 votes (33.7%), 188 Proportional Representation seats (31.5%),^[8] 23 local authority areas
• People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) – 122,307 votes (60.5%), 386 Proportional Representation seats (64.8%),^[8] 52 local authority areas^[9][10]
• Alliance for Change (AFC) – 8,719 votes (4.18%),^[11] 14 Proportional Representation seats (31.5%), 0 local authority areas
• Four different voluntary groups – 2,995 votes (1.44%), 8 Proportional Representation seats (1.34%),^[11] 0 local authority areas

These numbers are how many votes and seats each party had won at the previous election, in 2018, rather than which party held the seat on the eve of the election.

All registered electors (Guyanese, Commonwealth and Non-Commonwealth citizens) who will be aged 18 or over, resided legally in Guyana and have resided in an electoral district/constituency for a least two months prior to the election date are entitled to vote in the local elections.^[12]

Political parties registered with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) can contest the local elections.

The North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) who commissions opinion polling for elections in the region, sampling the electorates' opinions, has been criticized for not being quantitative and instead being qualitative by containing no statistical figures whatsoever and also for not publishing its methodology, with missing information such as sample size, how the sample is chosen and margin of erro. The pollster has also been criticised for being outdated by not having a website where the full surveys can be accessible.^[15][16]

Elections are conducted under both a proportional representation and first-past-the-post list system.

More information Party/Alliance, Party/Alliance leader ...

Party/Alliance		Party/Alliance leader	Candidates	Local authority areas			% of			Constituencies			% of constituencies			Votes			% of votes
				2018	2023	+/-	2018	2023	+/-	2018	2023	+/-	2018	2023	+/-	2018	2023	+/-	2019	2023	+/-
	APNU	Aubrey Norton	279[19]	23	14	9	28.8%	17.5%	11.3%	188			31.5%			68,060			33.7%
	PPP/C	Bharrat Jagdeo	610[20]	52	62	10	65.0%	77.5%	12.5%	386[21]			64.8%			122,307			60.5%
	No overall control	N/A		5	4	1	6.3%	5.0%	1.3%	22			3.7%			18,167			5.8%
Total				80	80		100%	100%		596	610		100%	100%		208,534			100%	100%
Electorate: 629,033 Total votes: Turnout: %

Close

• 2020 Guyanese general election
• 2020 Guyanese protests
• 2023 Trinidadian local elections