AS thousands of Guyanese turned up to cast their ballots in the 2023 Local Government Elections (LGEs), no major hiccups were reported, according to members of the Guyana Private Sector Commission (PSC), who were granted observer status for the elections.

During a press briefing on Monday afternoon, it was disclosed that a command centre was established at the PSC’S Waterloo Street, Georgetown office, and close to 60 observers were dispatched to several regions.

“The command centre was set up since six this morning and the idea is to have complete overview of the process that is taking place,” PSC’s Executive Director, Ian Chung informed reporters.

“We are spread throughout the country. We have agents from Region Two all the way to Region Nine. We are trying to cover all the administrative regions of the country. We want to be able to have a full overview of everything that is taking place,” he added.

Meanwhile, back at the command centre, several telephone lines were established to ensure continued communication with those who were in the fields.

“At the command centre, we have eight functional telephone lines, where we have each member being able to be contacted via telephone or WhatsApp. So, it’s a full network that is established here. We are collating it into a comprehensive report which we will provide at the end of the process,” he added.

To further assist field observers, the PSC established an application to identify Local Authority Areas (LAAs) as well as polling stations.

According to Chung, the application will also assist the PSC in compiling its report of the day’s proceedings.

“We have set up a local government monitoring system where we have mapped across Guyana all the local authority areas and also included all the polling stations. With this we have been able to provide assistance to the team on the ground and basically any additional information they need we are able to jump on a map and provide them with any assistance.”

Observers were dispatched to polling stations at 06:00hrs and would have intermittently checked on the voting process up until the closing of polls at 18:00 hrs.

As at press time on Monday, no hiccups were reported.

“What we have seen so far is at all the polling stations things are moving smooth [sic] and the polling agents, we have gotten reports that they are operating at a high standard. We have had no reports of incidents,” Chung said.

It is at the LGEs that Guyanese are given the opportunity to vote for the councillors who will represent their Local Authority Areas (LAAs). Guyana has 70 NDCs and 10 municipalities, inclusive of Georgetown.

The local government system is an essential part of the country’s governance framework. The election is contested by members of political parties and independent candidates, who are desirous of winning seats on the councils of the various NDCs and municipalities. (Naomi Parris)