OPPOSITION Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, said he expects the leadership of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to give the public the necessary assurances pertaining to their readiness to protect polling places across the country, while maintaining law and order.

At a press conference hosted Thursday at his Church Street office, Jagdeo said: “I pointed out to the observers that when there is fear about the readiness of the security forces to maintain law and order and protect the polling places, that they too have an obligation to secure assurances from the leadership of both the army and the police,” Jagdeo noted.

Jagdeo noted that the reason he knows of these protocols is because he headed an observer group in Sri Lanka. “I had to meet with the head of police, and the head of the army to get these assurances and so I have urged them to do the same thing…”

Jagdeo said he also intends to write Police Commissioner, Leslie James, directly on the issue. He explained that the police must say what training has been done, whether they will use rural constables or police only and the state of police vehicles to respond to incidents. The opposition leader said that the public expects and will judge the police based on their professionalism during the election activities in the coming week.