…turnout low, but process smooth

MEMBERS of the Joint Services in Georgetown on Friday turned out in patches to cast their ballots in this year’s Local Government Elections.

At polling stations across the country, military persons could be seen trickling in, with no lines of consequence to indicate that voting was taking place.
And while People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) General-Secretary Amna Ally said that voting had gone smoothly, she observed that it was very slow. Speaking from the Police Officers’ Mess at Eve Leary, which was the fourth location she had visited Friday morning, Ally said that she had observed that only about a fifth of military personnel turned out to vote at various locations.

“I know we have the entire day, but policemen are on duty, as are other military persons, so I am hoping that they will make use of the day and cast their vote,” she said.
Asked what she thinks the turnout will be like on November 12, Minister Ally said, “We will just have to trust God; and I hope they were sensitised enough to understand that voting at local government is very important.”
She said that over the next few days, the PNCR will try as much as it can to motivate citizens to vote.

FAIRLY SMOOTH
Commissioner on the Guyana Elections Commission, Sase Gunraj, was at the Georgetown Prison Officers’ Club on Camp and Bent Streets, as Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels cast his vote. Gunraj said he visited in excess of 20 polling stations and that as far as he knew, the process was fairly smooth.

He said that what he had observed, however, was that there were many instances where persons complained of not finding their names either on the list or at the locations. “Most of the cases that were raised with the GECOM staff,” Gunraj said, “I believe that systems were put in place to deal with those.

“The disciplined services list is prepared with information supplied to GECOM by respective officers of their respective forces.”

And from what he had observed also, none of the stations he visited had any major hiccups; this led him to believe that the situation would remain that way until ballots close at 18:00hrs.

Commissioner of Police Leslie James spoke with the Guyana Chronicle at the Leonora Police Station where he cast his vote; the commissioner said that as far as he knew, the day was incident-free.
“We have not gotten any reports suggesting otherwise,” Commissioner James said when asked what he thought about the process.

He maintained that the Guyana Police Force remains very vigilant and alert in case of any eventuality leading up to, during and after the elections.
The top cop reported that the process was an orderly one, which was conducted at police stations across the country; additionally,ranks were voting according to their availability.

Asked if all members of the police force were able to vote on Friday, James said he would hope so, as systems were put in place to facilitate that.

He, however, said that if for whatever reason some members of the force could not vote with the rest of their colleagues, arrangements would be put in place for them to do so on November 12, with the rest of the population.

Commissioner James said that he hopes to see a smooth voting process on polling day, reflecting the process on Friday.
Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels said that all ranks were given requisite time to head to the polls to cast their votes in their respective districts.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, accompanied by Minister of State Joseph Harmon, visited the Guyana Defence Force Base Camp Ayanganna; they also visited the Brickdam Police Station and the New Amsterdam Town Hall to observe early voting, as members of the Guyana Defence Force, Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Prison Service turned out to the designated polling stations.