… refuse to accept results of village council elections

RESIDENTS of White Water in the North West District are disputing the results of local elections held there on Thursday, following reports that dozens of persons from outside the village, including indigenous Venezuelan nationals, were allowed to vote.

Reports are that the elections saw the winner Ernest Samuels gain 416 votes as opposed to outgoing Toshao Cleveland De Souza, who barely accumulated a little over 100 votes.
According to reports, as many as 150 persons who were not registered to vote were allowed to do so by the Returning Officer, who allegedly has close ties with the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP), having campaigned on their slate during the last general elections.

“Yesterday some women came to vote and they were in the line, and when they were asked if they were on the list, they said no, yet the Returning Officer allowed them to vote,” a former village leader told the Guyana Chronicle.

The man said that during the afternoon session, persons were questioned by residents about their presence at the village office since they were not residents of White Water.
“Some people from Yarakita, Orinoco across in Venezuela, and people from other areas outside the village boundary came here and voted,” he said.

Residents also alleged that in the weeks leading up to the elections, regional officials aligned to the PPP held meetings at White Water and other villages at Mabaruma.
They reportedly told residents of those villages that if they do not vote for certain candidates, the PPP will not be able to return to power.

“They came in here at Yarakita, and they told us that we need to vote for the person who eventually won, because they will not win the next elections if we don’t vote,” one resident of Yarakita told this publication.

Village Council elections are being held across the country, and in many villages this year, new candidates have emerged as eventual winners.
These elections are held every three years.