CHAIRMAN of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, and several of her commissioners have expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the joint services voting on Friday.

Justice Singh told journalists that she visited a number of polling stations at the Ruimveldt Police Station, Base Camp Seweyo, Police Officers’ Mess at Eve Leary, and the Guyana Police Force Training Centre, and voting by the Joint Services members were being done in a peaceful and orderly manner.

“No concerns were raised. Everything is going very smoothly. We are not aware of any concerns so far,” the GECOM Chair said. Justice Singh noted that at some polling stations, the voters’ turnout was relatively high compared to others but explained that such is due to the fact that members of the Disciplined Services were working at different periods of the day.

For his part Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, who was also present at the Brickdam Police Station, said that electors were slowly trickling in at that location. “I think it is relatively slow at this station,” he said. Lowenfield had visited a number of polling places within Georgetown. He said based on all indications, there were little or no hiccups. “I was advised that at each of the [polling] stations visited, there were instances where persons did not have their Identification Cards, but that was admirably sorted out because as you are aware, there is a process to treat with that,” the CEO reported.

Government-nominated Elections Commissioner, Desmond Trotman, who was seen observing the polling at the Georgetown Prison Conference Room, also expressed satisfaction. He said not only did voting commence on time, but also members of the Joint Services had turned out in their numbers to cast their ballots. “In my own estimation, it is going well so far. In some places, where there are massive numbers, there is a massive turn out, and so a lot of people are actually there and voting. Here, where there is a small number 126, already 45 persons have voted,” Trotman told the Guyana Times during the early hours of the elections.

Another Elections Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, who was also present at the Georgetown Prison Conference Room, made similar observations. “So far it seems to be going pretty smoothly,” Gunraj said, while noting that there were no reported incidents. GECOM had informed members of the Disciplined Services that at an appointed day before March 2, 2020, all Disciplined Services’ ballots will be sorted accordingly in the presence of party agents. In order to protect the secrecy of the votes cast, the ballot papers will not be stamped with the official six-digit stamp until Election Day and intermixed with the votes of others for counting. In addition to the 10,226 members of the Disciplined Services who were expected to vote on Friday, 83 non-resident electors were scheduled to cast their votes.