…Min Lawrence bemoans low voter turn out

With the voters’ turn out presumably lower than expected, Public Health Minister and Executive Member of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Volda Lawrence said eligible voters who opted not to vote missed out on a perfectly good opportunity.

During Monday’s Local Government Elections, the second consecutive elections of this kind in 24 years, 573,923 persons were expected to vote across 1,676 polling stations across the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs) but many stayed away from the polls.

Minister Lawrence, who voted in the city of Georgetown, said the process was hassle free. “I found the officers to be very courteous, their explanation of the process to me was very clear and I voted like a boss for APNU,” she told reporters.
The Public Health Minister said persons who did not vote wasted a perfectly good opportunity, noting that voting on Monday was quite easy.

According to her, the process was smooth and transparent. She said Local Government Elections set the foundation for community development at the local level. “This is about our community, come out cast your ballots, exercise that franchise which you have, and that so many people do not have, just remember we fought for this, so that all of us can have a say at the local level,” she said in a bid to encourage voters to go to the polls.

Minister of Social Protection and APNU Executive, Amna Ally reminded that these elections were being held for the second time since the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government had taken office in May 2015. Prior to that, the elections were not held for more than 20 years. “We fought tirelessly for these Local Government Elections,” she further reminded.

For her the process was just the same – smooth and hassle free. Voting was completed within minutes as there were no long lines.
Minister of Public Telecommunications Cathy Hughes and her husband Nigel Hughes also voted in Monday’s elections. The said persons were more informed when compared to the last Local Government Elections, which was held after 22 years.
“In 2016, a lot of people weren’t familiar because we did not have it for such a long time,” she posited.

She said it is time citizens become more involved in the management of their towns and villages or Neighbourhood Democratic Councils.
“Citizens have got to get to the stage where they know how much is budgeted for their area. They must know that the first Monday in every month a statutory meeting is held where citizens make queries and raise concerns,” she said.

Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo, during an interview with reporters, said “it seems as though it is going fairly smoothly across the country.”

He, however, said there were some issues. “I don’t want those issues to dominate polling day concerns but they deal with again what we believe is either lack of training or capricious partisan action on the part of some presiding officers. So for example, we have had in some areas, the PR candidate being accredited to the poll and in other areas they are not,” he explained.

Jagdeo said the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) asked its polling agents to those persons who may attempt to vote for a second time.

“We have about 1 percent of the total ballot stations without polling agents because of one or another problem this morning. We are trying to get people in there now but we have asked our leaders in those areas to pay particular attention to those boxes when we see the results to see if it departs from the national averages where we don’t have the one percent with problems,” he said.

Like many other persons, Jagdeo took note of the low voters’ turn out. “Voters turnout seems to be low across the board and the parties are out on the ground working to bring the people out as per norm,” he said.

Former President Donald Ramotar said voting is a civic responsibility that ought to be taken seriously. He too acknowledged that the Local Government Elections create a platform for local leaders to be elected to serve with the aim of developing the neighbourhoods and towns.