…as disciplined services ranks cast ballots countrywide in LGEs

DAILY duties and responsibilities may have prevented members of the disciplined forces from voting early on Friday, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson has said.

Eighty polling stations were opened on Friday across Guyana. This was to facilitate early voting by members of the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Prison Service ahead of Local Government Elections Day, November 12; however, only a few persons had voted by midday at the various stations. This was the case at the La Grange Police Station on the West Bank of Demerara and many other polling sites across the country.

In an interview with reporters while observing polling at the Brickdam Police Station, the GECOM chairman anticipated that more members of the disciplined services would vote during the latter stage of the day before the close of polls at 18:00rs.
“My initial reflex action, observation, was that it was too slow; but then I remember that these are the forces that have to do duties as well as vote. So I suppose you had to be there early in the morning to do traffic duties and so on.

So the first reflection of dissatisfaction and disheartenment is there no longer. I expect a surge from 4 0’clock, when some of them would be off duty,” the Justice (Ret’d) Patterson told reporters.

At the time, he had visited polling stations along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway and the East Bank corridor before stopping at the Brickdam Police Station in Georgetown. The GECOM chairman said based on his observation, the process was progressing smoothly.
GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward said though there was no hiccup reported at the time, there were reports that two members of the disciplined forces had turned up at two polling stations; their names were, however, not on the list. One of the polling stations was situated at Timehri.

“For us at GECOM, the names of the officers were provided to us by the respective disciplined services, that is the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, and the Guyana Prison Service. So that list of officers that they provided to us, that is what we were able to work with; so if there was an omission of a name on a list for the disciplined services today, that was not an error from GECOM,” Ward explained.

However, she said there is a possibility that an officer may turn up to vote; but where he or she resides may not be a Local Authority Area (LAA). As such, his or her name would not be on a list. Ward said she was at the time unable to confirm particulars of the two cases.
The GECOM PRO said however, that if there was indeed an omission, all hopes have not been lost.

“Officers who have not voted today, would still have an opportunity to vote in their respective Local Authority Areas come the 12th November,” she assured.
Ward said based on reports received from all the polling stations, all stations were operational at 06:00hrs and the process had progressed smoothly. Civilians are expected to vote on Monday, November 12, in the Local Government Elections.
A total of 7918 officers were expected to vote at 63 locations countrywide at 80 polling stations.