GECOM hails "smooth" LGE; But still no word on voter turn out

-by Svetlana Abrams-

Almost three weeks since Local Government Elections were held, the Guyana Elections Commission is still unable to provide information on the overall voter turnout, even as it continues to hail the success of the elections.

At a press conference today, Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud told reporters GECOM has not done any analysis on the voter turnout since the Commission has been busy with more important matters.

“We have not conducted an analysis to determine turn out whether at the individual Local Authority Area levels or at the national level. However, the results are published, and any person who wish to do such an analysis is free to do without any clearance from us. We will in due course be embarking on such an exercise but we have not had the time to do that as yet, we had much more immediate activities to focus us,” the Chief Elections Officer said.

The decision of the Election Secretariat not to produce a statistical report on the voters’ turn out rate following an election, conflicts with the normal practice of the Secretariat.

In fact, shortly after the Disciplined Services went to the polls, the very Chief Elections Officer with the aid of the Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Aneal Giddings, provided the press with a detailed breakdown, telling reporters that 47% of the more than 9,000 members of the Disciplined Services, who were registered to vote, cast their ballots on June 2.

Added to that, the two provided a comparative analysis, telling reporters that the turn-rate for the Disciplined Services Members was higher this time around when compared to the 2018 Local Government Elections.

But today, Chief Elections Officer provided a scant overview of the just concluded Local Government Elections while omitting critical information such as the overall voter turn out rate. There were some 629,000 citizens registered to vote in the elections.

In the presence of the Chairman of the Elections Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, the Chief Elections Officer reported that the elections were smoothly executed, despite the chaotic scene that engulfed the office of the Returning Officer (RO) for the Municipality of Georgetown.

“We are satisfied that the Elections would have met the expectations, especially, in so far as the conduct of credible elections is concerned. To this end, I could give assurance that with specific reference to elections day all logistical arrangements flowed smoothly towards ensuring adequate staffing were in place, all materials were in place to ensure that the polls in every single instance opened at 6 in the morning as the statutory time for the opening of the polls,” Mr Persaud said.

Justice Singh also applauded the Secretariat for ‘smoothly’ executing the elections.

The Commission today announced that it will be restarting its continuous registration exercise, which was paused to allow preparations for the recently concluded Local elections.