GECOM says voting smooth, parties see low turnout
Voting for yesterday’s General and Regional Elections went smoothly according to the Guyana Elections Commission and the major contesting parties, with reports of low voter turnout, glitches on the electoral body’s website and challenges with access to polling places faced by the differently-able being top complaints by candidates.
“For us, the voting process proceeded smoothly and peacefully across the country. Where issues had arisen, they were addressed promptly and transparently, in accordance with the law,” GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward told a press conference at her office held last evening, following the day’s voting.
And while GECOM began uploading Statements of Poll (SOPs) last evening, Ward said that they could not commit to a specific date for declarations, except that that the body would try to do so in the fastest time possible and would not speculate on voter turnout last evening, as the numbers were merely trickling in.
”From a GECOM standpoint, as the electoral management body, I prefer for us to look at numbers before we make such a pronouncement on turnout,” she said.
The GECOM PRO also underscored that, “We have committed to delivering those results within the shortest possible time, of course, taking into account all of the legal provisions in place.”
To disabled persons, GECOM apologized. “I want to really apologize to the members of the (disabled) community. I am very cognizant that this is an issue we continue to face,” Ward said, noting that the Commission will look at addressing the issue.
And where the website saw intermittent inaccessible periods, she said that they were aware but the IT staffed worked “around the clock” to remedy the situation.
With some 750,000 persons listed on the voter’s list, a recurring lament by political parties was that from the preliminary reports they got from their agents, turnout had not been as high as expected. However, no party would comment to say what percentage of that number they had tallied to have voted.
Analysis
Vice President of Guyana and General Secretary of the incumbent PPP Bharrat Jagdeo last evening said that his analysis shows “a lower voter turnout than in 2020 but it is worse in some areas, like the city.” He said that he believes that the reason was “a significant amount of people stayed away from the APNU. I think they may not wanted openly to support the PPP but they were not going to risk a change in government because there was no good alternative to the PPP/C. Others may have just opted out of the process because APNU did not do enough,” he said.
He was quick to say that, “These are just some early thoughts on the elections.”
Of the process he said that “many of the polling places, despite that it was very slow, we are very pleased it was peaceful.”
“We have a macro picture, and as far as I see, it’s a good picture. By tomorrow I expect all of the SOPs to be uploaded and all Guyanese will know the results in the elections,” Jagdeo posited.
He said that unlike in 2020 where his party did its uploading of results, it this time around had confidence in GECOM that it will upload accurately and swiftly, given that they are mandated by law to do so.
The PPP General Secretary believes that the race is between his party, WIN and APNU where he is confident that the PPP/C will get another term and WIN will be the main opposition party. Jagdeo and other PPP officials had previously written off WIN’s chances.
APNU’s Presidential candidate Aubrey Norton also said that voter turnout was low but added that the absent voters likely came from PPP/C strongholds.
“The turnout seems low. We didn’t see the turnout we would normally see in the PPP strongholds. My assessment for the day is that it went relatively smooth but we have to await the results,” he said.
Norton complained about Bangladeshi and Indian nationals voting, saying that for the amounts it was astonishing and he was not sure that they had met the one year “consistent domicile” eligibility clause.
“You have 107 Indian nationals in the Plaisance/ Ogle area, and 27 Bangladeshis in Diamond – the law says that they are entitled to domicile for one continuous year,” he bemoaned. .
GECOM addressed the issue at the press conference. “The eligibility for registration is that you must be a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, naturalization or citizen of a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more,” Ward said.
“Under the laws of Guyana, Commonwealth citizens who have been residing in Guyana for one year or more are eligible to vote,” she emphasized.
Norton believes that his party performed well in the elections but stressed that you “never know until you get the results.”
WIN’s Presidential candidate Azruddin Mohamed said the process went “Exceptionally well as we can see from releases out there…We are looking at winning the presidency and you get a plurality and we think that is possible,” he said.
Party spokesperson on the day’s activities, WIN General Secretary Odessa Primus, told Stabroek News that her party noted the overall low voter turnout but was not affected as they were able to galvanize their supporters, as evidenced from SOPs received and those shared by GECOM.
She said that voting went smoothly but her party’s agents faced the brunt of ill-preparedness by GECOM staff as many were locked out from polling stations.
Nonetheless, she said that WIN’s supporters did not allow the glitches of the day to deter them from waiting to cast their votes and for that the executives are eternally grateful.
“As it relates to the voter turnout, it is a little low as expected but in our favour, today expresses the sentiments that we have been sharing [regarding our support base]. It shows too that GECOM lacks the preparedness; from the ballots not being issued on time; the information not filtered from the top to persons at bottom. I am not sure of the level of training that went into the staff because some seemed seasoned, some ill-prepared. Some instructions were given and they did not know what to do. Our agents were standing for hours and it was so frustrating that many left. We received countless calls of our agents being outside that raised a number of concerns because people do not trust the system,” she stressed.
“For the voting process and the flow, it was reasonably well paced. Not as best as it could be but not to complain. All in all, the day went relatively smooth. … some polling places lacked the signage necessary. At my polling station, the list there displayed was incomplete and person showing up not knowing what to do and to compound that you had GECOM’s website down,” she added.
For the political party that started just three months ago, she said that “WIN is very confident in these elections… We have done exceedingly well and would absolutely like to express our sincere gratitude to persons who have turned out. What we have done is create history. I am not preempting results, but stating that never in the history have we have seen a new party come out so shortly and gained the momentum that we have. That is commendable and not be taken lightly,” she said.
Alliance For Change Presidential candidate Nigel Hughes spoke on the low voter turnout, saying it was a reflection on all the contesting parties.
“The process from the stations I have observed seemed to be uneventful. Mine had blackout. But other than that the team was good very professional. All the reports from our agents in the field is that it was a very uneventful day. What it does expose however is that there was very low turnout which is quite a strong statement of the population.
“If you have probably the most expensive elections, you have the most observers and you have new entrants to the political space…and the turnout is low, it is either the list is bloated or the population has rejected most of the existing parties that offered themselves. And therefore we have to look at what might have left to the lack of interest in the process that the country has so much money. A low turnout is a rejection of all the contenders,” he said.
