“PEACE and tranquility must prevail, but this peace and tranquility cannot prevail within an environment of turbulence.” These strong words from Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr Steve Surujbally, matched the strong sentiments that characterised major unrest last night in at least one section of the capital, Sophia, and other incidents at polling places in several electoral districts.
Dr Surujbally “demanded” that political parties, citizens and other stakeholders in the electoral process exercise a greater level of maturity in awaiting the official results of the electoral process and allowing the process of counting to be completed.
“There is no sense exciting yourself over nothing really at this point in time…they have to address the citizenry of this country…we cannot allow a beautifully run elections to be undermined,” he said at a news conference held at GECOM’s command centre in High Street, Georgetown.
The GECOM Chairman also called on the presidential candidates of the two major political parties, the incumbent People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), to urge peace and tranquility.
“I have asked this before and I have demanded it,” he said.
The PPP/C in a statement late last night forthrightly condemned the wilful torching of two buildings and two vehicles in Sophia by a mob who openly voiced their allegiance to the Opposition. One of the buildings and the vehicles belong to a supporter of the PPP.
STATEMENTS OF POLLS
Dr Surujbally decried the fact that party enthusiasts turned out to polling stations to “protect” ballot boxes, at the time when the count started. Several unpleasant incidents stemmed from this endeavour.
“We have already had too many incidents of turbulence,” he said, adding that the incidents have not been widespread, but nonetheless troubling.
The GECOM Chairman made it clear that the ballot boxes are of “lesser import” that the statements of poll, which reflect the count of votes contained in the ballot boxes from the 2,299 polling stations across Guyana.
Given the state of affairs, up to 1:00am this morning, Dr Surujbally stated that he feels “vexation” to see years of preparation and even more intense effort in the last six months being threatened.
He described the situation as “blood boiling” and underscored the need for Guyana not to return to the past.
“Let us not undermine what we have achieved,” he stressed.
RELEASE OF RESULTS
Additionally, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Mr Keith Lowenfield, explained that when the counting of votes is completed, the Statements of Poll will be completed and passed onto various stakeholders, including to him.
Once in his possession, he added that the Statements will be subjected to verification and then released to the Guyanese public.
Preliminary results are expected to be released as the final results are being arrived at.
Lowenfield stated that some Statements of Poll are expected to reach his office before noon today, at the latest, given the challenges posed by Guyana’s geography.
There are eight political contenders in the running – out of the 11 parties that initially expressed their interest in contesting. In addition to the PPP/C and APNU+AFC, the other parties submitting their National Top-up Lists, Geographical Constituencies List, and Regional Democratic Council Lists, included: The United Force (TUF); the Healing the Nation Theocracy Party (HTNT); the United Republican Party (URP); the Independent Party (IP); the Organisation for the Victory of the People (OVP); and the National Independence Party (NIP).