-satisfied with electoral process
…says ‘few’ anomalies being investigated

By Navendra Seoraj

AS voters across the country continue to exercise their franchise, President David Granger remains confident of a victory for the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC)coalition, which he leads.

The President, who visited several polling stations, said: “The turnout is heavy to moderate but I would say the emphasis on heavy…people know what to do and polling agents are efficient and they are briefing the voters on procedure so there is no reason for me not to believe that the process would be smooth.”

(President David Granger spoke to members of the media shortly after casting his ballot at the Pearl Nursery School)

When asked if he is confident of victory, President Granger said: “I am very confident, even before today.”

Over 600,000 Guyanese are eligible to vote in the 2020 General and Regional Elections. And, there are some 2,339 polling stations across the 10 administrative regions. Nine political parties are competing in the general elections and 11 in the regional elections.

Subsequent to observing the process at the Beterverwagting Secondary School polling place, President Granger said he has observed that there is tremendous enthusiasm on the part of the electors at all of the polling stations that he visited.

“Everything was in order, the staff was in place, they had all their materials… I have not received a single complaint in all of the stations I visited and I have been visiting stations for nearly three hours… the staff are aware of their duties and they are performing their duties efficiently,” said President Granger.

Considering the “tremendous” enthusiasm, he expects a massive turnout. The President went on to say that the whole Guyana should be happy because the “democratic process” is moving smoothly so the international observers should have nothing to complain about.

President Granger although being satisfied with the process, said the coalition has noticed a few anomalies and abuses, but the party’s agent, Joseph Harmon has noted those issues and will be raising them with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

Harmon in an invited comment said there was an issue at one polling station, where the six-digit stamps was only stamping four digits.

He said he has since brought this matter to the attention of GECOM and it is being addressed. Additionally, Harmon said there are smaller issues which will be addressed as the day progresses.

The party’s agent for the East Coast of Demrara, Attorney General Basil Williams, however, noted that there were complaints from Mon Repos aboyt a known politician handing out Identification (ID) cards. This matter has since been reported to the police and it is being investigated.

Members of the Opposition, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) have also said that they received reports of persons not being able to find their names on the lists which were posted at the various polling stations. The opposition has since committed to investigating this matter.