As members of the Disciplined Services prepare to cast their ballots on Friday, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is assuring that all systems are in place for the General and Regional Elections.

A total of 10,481 members of the Disciplined Services, which include the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force, and the Guyana Prison Service, are scheduled to vote this Friday, ahead of the September 1 Regional and General Elections.

In total, GECOM has announced that there are 757,690 persons listed on the voters’ list.  

At a press conference today, Deputy Chief Election Officer, Aneal Giddings, reported that all of the sensitive election material have arrived from Canada.

He said the ballots for members of the Disciplined Services have been extracted, and the ballot boxes prepared for distribution to the 83 balloting locations across the 10 electoral districts.

He said the election machinery is well oiled, and ready for the elections.

“We are well poised for the conduct of these elections on Friday. All of the logistical arrangements have been made. At this point in time there is nothing, aside from, maybe force majeure that can prevent such conduct,” the DCEO assured.

Additionally, he disclosed that ballots have also been dispatched to 20 Diplomatic Missions abroad.

“On the issue of non-resident elector balloting we have enveloped some 92 ballots destined to 20 missions abroad. All have since been dispatched to those missions. We have actually received today, returns from two diplomatic missions, which are in the custody of the Chief Elections Officer as required by law,” the DCEO said.

The Deputy Chief Election Officer addressed journalists in the presence of the Chief Election Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud; the Logistics Manager, Dellon Clarke, the Civic and Voter Education Manager, Nardeo Persaud, and Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward.

The Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh was absent from the briefing.

The DCEO’s assurance that all systems are in place comes one day after representatives from the six political parties contesting the elections raised a long list of concerns.

News Source understands that the concerns ranged from the issues relating to the List of Electors, the possibility of voter impersonation and multiple voting by those to be issued with Certificates of Employment, to the limited time provided for applications for proxy.

On the issue of the categories of voters, the CEO said GECOM has had no reason to disaggregate the numbers to show the number of voters who are Commonwealth citizens or citizens by birth, naturalization or descent.

“First of all we register persons who met the criteria of being 18 years and over by June 30^th, who are Guyanese citizens or citizens of a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more. Now, I started out by saying we register electors, we have no charge, no reason to categorize electors by nationality. That is not something that the secretariat has been charged to do, we have not done so, and unless we asked specifically to do so, then we have no grounds on which to do it,” the CEO said.

He said it is not a case in which the Secretariat is unable to do so, but rather it has not been instructed to do so.

With regards to the issuance of Certificate of Employment, reporters were told that to date, GECOM has not issued a single Certificate of Employment, and is very cautious in the issuance.

It was noted that Certificate of Employment will only be issued in extreme cases where polling day staff appointed by GECOM are required to work in a location that is far from its polling station.

Weighing in on the issue, the Civic and Voter Education Manager explained that it would be difficult for anyone to vote twice due to the requirement that mandates voters to dip their index finger in indelible ink.

“The right index finger is stained with indelible ink, so if that person with the Certificate of Employment votes at the polling station where he is working, his finger will be stained there. He is not supposed to leave that polling station for any extended period to get him to the other polling station where he is listed to vote. But I am suspecting that you are saying that if he does that, what happens? The mere fact that ink would be on that finger is an indication that you can’t vote here,” the Civic and Voter Education Manager explained.

For the Chief Election Officer, it would be virtually impossible for anyone to vote twice in these elections unless there is collusion.

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