-but miffed some AFC scrutineers disenfranchised
GUYANESE came out in their thousands early yesterday morning to exercise their democratic right and cast their ballots for the 2011 General and Regional Elections in favour of the party of their choice.
Young and old converged on their respective polling stations, even before the doors were officially due to open at 06:00hrs, and for the presidential hopefuls and their party members, the situation was no different.
The Alliance for Change (AFC) presidential candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan, was among the crowd that descended  on the Rama Krishna Primary School in Campbellville, arriving there at around 07:10hrs.
After casting his ballot, he took the opportunity to give waiting members of the media his impression of what transpired at his polling station, and to bring them up to speed on what was happening across the country, based on the feedback he received from activists in the various communities and administrative regions.
“The process was as normal as could be, but there are some concerns on a larger issue as the AFC scrutineers in Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) and Region 1 (Barima/Waini) were not allowed to vote, although they have their cards…,” he said. “I’m pretty concerned about that.”
Contending that those AFC representatives should have been allowed to vote, despite the fact that they were not registered at the stations to which they were deployed, Ramjattan said:
“We are trying to get Surujbally to indicate to them that they have to be allowed to vote. We were told that they are going to be allowed to vote, once they get their employment letters.” 
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally, in an interview earlier that morning at the said Rama Krishna Primary where Ramjattan cast his vote, was emphatic that voting outside of the polling station one is  registered at is in breach of the law.
When apprised if this, Ramjattan’s response was:
“We are not strong in a certain area, and we would like to have scrutineers in that area. And once we know they are in such areas, they ought to be allowed to vote, because it is fundamental; you do not use a little procedural requirement to breach a man’s fundamental right. The exigencies demand that a person be allowed to vote. Sometimes reason seems to be lost in moments like this.”
This setback notwithstanding, Ramjattan said that based on feedback from his supporters, there seems to be a general air of optimism, particularly where voter turnout in the respective regions were concerned.
While at the Rama Krishna station, Surujbally noted that as of 07:30hrs yesterday, he had visited at least 20 polling stations to observe how the voting process was going, and everything seemed to be progressing as planned.
“All of them started on time,” he said. “From what I have seen, it’s pretty okay, and I am not displeased. There are still the usual hiccups, though persons were told to check their names before. There are certain corrective measures that could be taken. No problem to solve them.”
And, just as he said, dozens of persons were seen checking the list at the Rama Krishna polling station for their names, many for the first time, and were visibly confused about the procedure.
At around 08:00hrs or so, AFC prime ministerial candidate, Raphael Trotman, was seen arriving at the Bel Air Lions Club to exercise his franchise, only to emerge less than 10 minutes later, visibly upset at being made to wait his turn at the entrance.
He, however, assured members of the press that he would return later in the day to cast his ballot.