-maintains ‘sorry’ won’t cut it, that it’s a matter for the police
ACTS OF violence at locations in Georgetown have been denounced by Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally, who said that the Commission has noted these with utter “repugnance.”
At the Commission’s first press briefing after the close of polls, Surujbally said the agency responded with alacrity to the incidents, and that the matters will be turned over to the police for investigation.
“It is with great repugnance that I view that episode,” he said, adding: “However, you can see that migrating into the hands of the police, and they will deal with it. I understand that he was quite conciliatory and offered all sorts of willingness to redress the situation, but in the end that must not be happening on Election Day,” the chairman said.  
The “episode” at reference has to do with the alleged physical assault of a Presiding Officer and an Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) official by a high-ranking member of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic at a South Ruimveldt polling station.
Surujbally said that while the offenders may be contrite and have apologised, at the end of the day, merely saying “Sorry” isn’t enough, and the police will have to be brought into the picture.

ASSAULT 

As confirmed by Assistant Chief Elections Officer, Mr. Keith Lowenfield, there was indeed an altercation between Presidential Advisor on Empowerment, Odinga Lumumba and a Presiding Officer at an Aubrey Barker Street polling station earlier in the day.
Lowenfield said while the Presiding Officer claimed she was shoved twice up against a wall, Lumumba’s version was that it was just “a little touch” for which he has since apologised.
Lumumba, Lowenfield said, has also admitted to having a verbal exchange with the  EAB official, in the course of which the man’s cellular phone was damaged as claimed. For that incident, too, he has profusely apologised and promised to replace the instrument.
“Odinga did, in the presence of Mr. Gerry Gouveia, admit that there may have been just a touch, and not a shove, and he was very apologetic for what happened, Lowenfield said, adding:
“He also said to the observer, ‘I’ll purchase the phone,’ because the gentleman’s phone fell down and the back came off. He said he’s going to repay him, and that he was very sorry for all that had happened.”
Both matters, he said, are being investigated by the authorities.

LODGE INCIDENT
Reports are that later, at the Lodge Secondary School, Lumumba was joined by Kwame McCoy, who had turned up there to inspect how the voting was going, but were both ordered out of the polling station and escorted to safety by the police.
Giving his version of what transpired, McCoy explained that he was approached and told he could not stand in for the PPP/C polling agent at that station as requested.
“I explained to her (the Deputy Returning Officer) that I was standing in for the Polling Agent, and she told me that it could not be done. I mentioned to her that this is not the first time it was done. She insisted, and the police got involved,” McCoy said.
Complying with the request, McCoy said he made his way out of the polling station and left the school, but not without a mouth-licking from the crowd that had by this time gathered.
He, however, insisted: “I have a right to stand in for any agent that may be absent for any period of time. I am assured this matter would be investigated.”
But distasteful though the incident was, one observer from the British High Commission, Mr. Andre Ayre, told the Guyana Chronicle that from all indications, it was an isolated case.
He said from the little he has observed, McCoy was clearly unpopular with the voters gathered at the polling place in question, but, thankfully, the police were on top of the situation and was able to keep it under control. 
According to Lowenfield, Chief Elections Officer, Mr. Gocool Boodhoo has made it clear, time and again, that  candidates of parties are  allowed at the polling stations only to relieve a Party’s agent, who needed to go and cast their votes at their respective polling stations, take a bathroom break, or a short break to have something to eat.
He said that while the foregoing provisions were at the discretion of GECOM Chairman, Dr. Surujbally, some candidates have taken advantage of it, and instead of relieving their agents were remaining at the polling stations for hours on end.

RIOT POLICE

Over at the Tucville Secondary School, riot police had to be called in after McCoy made his way there and was flocked by a large crowd of irate persons.
Reports are that two truckloads and one pick-up of heavily armed and helmeted police arrived at Turning Point, a popular watering hole, to deal with the situation there that had the potential of turning ugly.
Lowenfield said it was around 17:30hrs when McCoy turned up at the polling station in the area and word got around that he was there. And even before he could leave,  a crowd had gathered and blocked the entrance and the roadway running north to south.
“The police had to, wisely so, close the entrance to avoid persons running into the compound at Tucville Secondary to prevent any further situation from developing,” Lowenfield said.
Later, it was reported, Public Service Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford and four bodyguards were seen entering the polling station, but within 40 minutes of the police’s arrival, the crowd thought it wise to disperse.

He added that the initial report was confusion at Tucville Secondary School, but  fortunately, the police were able to keep it under control.
When asked about reports of ballot boxes being removed by unauthorised sources, he maintained that the integrity of the ballot boxes has not been tainted.
Lowenfield said that of the 2,076 polling stations open to the electorate, only one was closed with approximately a dozen persons still waiting to vote.