THE result of votes cast in Region Four at the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU) Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elections of office bearers was unavailable up to press time, despite a low voter turnout on Sunday.
The Guyana Chronicle was told that the results of the elections would be available at 17:00 hrs, then 18:00 hrs and subsequently 20:00 but even at 21:00 hrs, counting of votes for Region Four was still incomplete.
Some members of the GPSCCU were pleased with the way the elections were done while others had issues with the implementation of a new voting system by the organisation.
This year’s elections saw a heated contest between the team headed by former head of the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC), Trevor Benn and another led by President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), Patrick Yarde.

Up to late Sunday evening, the results of the voting were not yet in. However, Benn, who is currently Chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC), said the results are expected to be available before the day was out. Less than 1,000 members voted at the elections
The first elections to be held in 14 years, the teams are vying for a spot on the 12-member Committee of Management and three-member Supervisory Committee. Though nominees contest the elections as teams, electors do not vote for a singular list of candidates and instead must vote for each team member, individually.
Though previous elections involved members all attending the AGM where they nominated and voted for office bearers, this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AGM was held virtually while members were given the option of voting online or voting at respective polling stations in each of the 10 regions.

The in-person voting ran from 10:00hrs to 16:00hrs while the online voting ran from 12:00hrs to 16:30hrs. Members could vote in any region and voters were crossed off as voted based on a database being shared among the polling stations.
Some members commended the process.
“It was smooth and very simple. You present your ID, and give them your credit union number and they verify you’re a member and verify your address, then they issue you with a ballot to vote,” explained member, Randy Beckles, who voted at the polling station in Region Three that was located at the Regional Education Office.
Beckles shared his pleasure to finally see the elections going forward to clear the way for installation of a substantive Management Committee. He supported many of the initiatives that were carried out over the past few months under the Interim Management Committee (IMC) and is looking forward for that to continue.

GETTING LOANS FASTER
“For me we need a change in the governance for the credit union. We need to move away from the old structure that we had under the previous chairman to the new one right now, where you are getting loans so fast,” he said.
While some members said the online process was smooth, others complained of having issues voting.
Angela Harry, who visited the Region Three polling station at the Regional Education Office in Vreed-en-Hoop, after she had registered to vote online, said she had some issues.
“I signed up but somehow I’m not getting through. The signing up was easy, you full out the form and I got the email saying I was registered to vote, but there was no instructions on how to vote,” she shared.

She could not be allowed to vote at the polling station there since she was already marked as an online voter. She said she returned home and made new attempts but after those failed, she once again returned to the polling station, hoping that she could be assisted by someone.
At the GPSCCU Hadfield Street headquarters, which was the polling station for Region Four, voter Rosaline Stewart said: “The process was ok but I think they should have had a bigger venue. They could’ve rented a ground or something. But everything else was ok.”
Sitting outside of the Region Three polling station was campaigner for Team Benn, Jiemyma Armstrong, and some distance away from her sat GPSU Vice-President, Dawn Gardener, campaigning for Team Yarde.

“I am backing them because they stand for truth and honesty, and they have the interest of the members at heart. They have done a wonderful job for the past three years as the IMC. We have easier access to loans, they are more customer-friendly and have a listening ear for all your concerns,” Armstrong said.
However, the day was not without its share of allegations of voter irregularities. According to Gardener, there was voting by delinquent members and candidates of the other team being given observer status, when her team was not allowed to have observers. She also noted a change of venue of the Region Five polling station.