THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has launched an investigation into the conduct of Local Government Elections in Mabaruma, Region One.

Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield said there is a strict three-tier system that allows voting by way of a proxy; however, reports have surfaced that in Mabaruma the system was breached.

At a press conference at the GECOM Secretariat on Friday, Lowenfield said he learnt of the issue through the press.
He told reporters that while he was not aware of the issue in which persons reportedly paid others to vote in particular way, he is aware of proxies approved using the wrong methodology.

According to GECOM, a voter is entitled to vote by proxy in an election if he or she is unable to go to the polling station where he/she is listed to vote on Election Day; this may be because of illness, work in the case of those working in the security forces, at GECOM or the Transport and Harbours Department.

Lowenfield said once an application for proxy is filed with GECOM, an investigation is conducted to determine whether the applicant is eligible. It was noted that the returning officer for the Local Authority Area (LAA) or the deputy returning officer and agents of political parties and civil groups are involved in the verification process.
In Mabaruma, Lowenfield said GECOM is uncertain if the correct procedure was followed, but noted that the investigation will determine this.

It is expected that the investigation will be completed before the commission meets next Wednesday. On Wednesday, it is expected that a full report on the allegation will be tabled before the commission.
A family at Kumaka, the town’s business hub, told the Guyana Chronicle that they were disturbed that a male relative of theirs managed to vote by proxy for two of his nephews; this, although the two siblings had authorised their mother to vote on their behalf by proxy.

According to a family member, when the woman turned up at Kumaka to vote on her sons’ behalf, she was told that the boys’ uncle had already voted for them.
She explained that the boys had sent their identification cards to Mabaruma with their uncle from Georgetown where they work and study.

Reports are that the boys’ uncle obtained a letter of recommendation which was signed by an opposition-aligned regional official, who is a Justice of the Peace. The woman became annoyed when she found out that the letter was drafted without her sons’ consent; and she became worried when she was told that the her sons’ occupations were erroneously listed as laymen in the fictitious letter.

The allegations were reported to the returning officer at Mabaruma, but the family told the Guyana Chronicle that the official was not very helpful.

Based on the official results declared by GECOM, the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won four of the six constituencies in the town of Mabaruma; the governing A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) managed to score wins in the remaining two constituencies in the First-Past-The-Post component of the elections.

In the Proportional Representation (PR) component, a total of 1808 votes were cast in the area; of that number, the PPP scored 1006, while APNU grabbed 653. The PPP as a result picked up another four seats, while APNU gained two.