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

AS voters across the country turned out to exercise their franchise, President David Granger was 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 to observe the electoral process on Monday, 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.”
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 had observed that there was 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, and 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 is aware of their duties and they are performing their duties efficiently,” said President Granger.

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

President Granger although being satisfied with the process, said the coalition had noticed a few anomalies and abuses, but the party’s agent, Joseph Harmon, had noted those issues and raised 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 stamp was only stamping four digits. The matter was brought to the attention of GECOM. Additionally, Harmon said there were smaller issues which would have been addressed as the day progressed.

Early in the day, at the crack of dawn, electors were seen assembling at polling stations on the ECD to exercise their franchise during the March 2, 2020 General and Regional elections, which was dubbed the mother of all elections. Electors from the ECD formed part of the 285,618 voters who were listed in District Four.

The process started smoothly, according to electors and even international observers who were present at the Betervwagting Practical Instruction Centre polling place.
The first elector to cast his vote at this polling place, S.S Mohamed, said the process was simple and it was made easy through guidance from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM)’s polling-day staff.

These sentiments were echoed by other voters, who said the only concern was the pace at which the lines were moving.
Speaking about their observations at the Betervwagting polling place, Chief of Organisation of American States (OAS) Observer Mission, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, said his team observed the preparation for the poll in all five polling stations at the polling place, and it seemed to have gone well.

Talking more about the process, he said: “We stayed behind to see the actual commencement at the station and that seems to be going well…the process tends to be a little slow because of verification of identification and a concern would be whether or not you will have long lines which may cause frustration…other than that it started out well and I hope it continues like that.”

This complaint was replicated by electors at other polling stations along the ECD, but persons hailed the process and commended GECOM for the arrangements in place to ensure the smooth conduct of elections.

Electors at the Lusignan Primary School, Annandale Secondary School and St. Paul’s Retreat Centre polling places said the lines leading to the polling stations were slow, but the process was simple. The long lines and crowded polling stations, however, could not be seen after lunch, as many persons said they chose to vote early and even encouraged their family members and colleagues to do the same.