– Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield

LESS than 40 per cent of the police, soldiers and prison guards listed to vote in the Local Government Elections last Friday did so when the poll stations were opened to facilitate early voting for the disciplined services.

A total of 7,917 members of the disciplined services were deemed eligible to vote during last Friday’s elections, but only 3,147 or 39.7 per cent of them did, according to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield.
In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday, Lowenfield disclosed that only 1,938 members of the Guyana Police Force voted in the Local Government Elections from a list of 4,693.

In the case of the Guyana Defence Force, he detailed that 2,773 soldiers were listed on the Official Voters’ List, but less than half – 1,022 – cast their ballots. The Guyana Prison Service had a total of 451 eligible voters, but only 187 exercised their democratic right to elect their local leaders. Ballots were cast at 63 locations across the country.

On Friday morning, only a few members of the disciplined services had voted. Chairman of GECOM Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson had anticipated that the voters’ turn out would have picked up later that day; but Lowenfield said based on the current statistics, it is clear that it never did. He noted, however, that members of the disciplined services who were registered to vote but did not, will have another chance next Monday; then, the civilian population are expected to cast their ballots in this year’s Local Government Elections.
Amna Ally, general-secretary of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) – the party that forms a major part of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), told the Guyana Chronicle that the omission of voters’ names from the official list may have been a contributing factor to the low voters’ turnout.

“Some of them said their names were not on the list, that’s one, and some of them said that they did not know the candidates whom they have to vote for; so I figured that posed a little difficulty,” Ally told this newspaper.

Ally, however, said that on November 12, the situation would be different, explaining that the members of the disciplined services would join the regular citizenry to vote in their Local Authority Areas (LAAs).

WILL UP SENSITISATION
“I don’t think there is going to be a problem in terms of voters’ turnout, but not taking any chance; we in the APNU, we are going to up our sensitisation campaign in all the areas to make sure that we do everything possible to get the voters out,” she said.

Leader of the United Republican Party (URP) Dr. Vishnu Bandhu told the Guyana Chronicle that the low voters’ turnout among the disciplined forces indicates that Guyanese have grown tired of the major political parties – the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

“People are fed up really with the two major political parties…. They are completely fed up with them; and I think that is the reason why there is a low voters’ turnout, because of the disappointment they are having,” Bandhu told this newspaper.

URP is contesting in several Local Authority Areas (LAAs) in this year’s Local Government Elections; and though Bandhu admitted that his party did not campaign among the disciplined services to draw their support, he is hopeful that some of the votes went to the URP.

He said while campaigning across the various LAAs, there was a sense of dissatisfaction and frustration being experienced by the people.

SAME OLD
“If you go to the man in the street, we are begging them and telling them that you have to go out and vote. Many of them have said that they are not going and vote, because it is the same thing over and over… They all are fed up, totally fed up,” Bandhu said
The Alliance For Change, another political party contesting in the Local Government Elections, is of the opinion that many Guyanese have not yet grown accustomed to the elections and are still grappling to understand their importance in the process of local democracy.

AFC Deputy Campaign Director Juretha Fernandes told the Chronicle that the low voters’ turn out by members of the disciplined services comes as no surprise to the AFC; she posited that it was anticipated that it would have been lower.

“It is not something new, this is the second LGE for over two decades; so persons are still not in tune about the level of importance for these elections; and it is our job as political parties and GECOM also to educate the people about the importance of these elections,” Fernandes told this newspaper.

Local Government Elections were held in Guyana for the first time in 22 years in March 2016. They will be held again on Monday, November 12.

The AFC deputy campaign director opined that not enough has been done to educate voters on the importance of Local Government Elections. “I don’t think anybody has done enough to educate the public; because being on the campaign trail, speaking to people on the ground, the people that actually have to vote, the voters themselves they are still not very clear as to what Local Government Elections is [sic] all about,” she pointed.

In recent interview, GECOM’s chairman told reporters that the Elections Commission has done more than enough in the area of voters’ education.

“We have gone out of the way to use the media. Our staff has been on orders to spread the message. I am confident that we have done our part,” the chairman emphasised.