Disciplined services voting saw 39.7% turnout -GECOM

Just under 40% of disciplined service members eligible to vote did so during early voting for the local government elections last Friday.

According to Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward, a mere 3,147 or 39.7% of the 7,918 members of the disciplined services eligible to vote cast their ballots.

They comprised the 1,022 of the 2,773 members of the Guyana Defence Force listed on the Official Voters’ List, the 1,938 of the 4,693 eligible members of the Guyana Police Force and the 187 of the 451 eligible prison officers.

The total is significantly less than the 55.6% of the disciplined service members who cast their votes during early voting in 2016.

There appeared to be a low turnout during the voting last Friday, although there were some instances where servicemen and women said they could not find their names on the electoral rolls. GECOM officials have since said that those who missed the opportunity to vote last Friday can still exercise their franchise with the rest of the population next Monday.

GECOM has acknowledged that its attempts at voter and civic education might have fallen short, with GECOM’s Registration Officer Clairmont Mingo and Ward telling reporters last Saturday that there have been several voter education efforts but the Secretariat has no way of being sure if these efforts will result in voter turnout.

“We go out there, we talk to the people but can we tell if they will vote? No,” Mingo indicated, before adding that voter mobilisation is not solely the responsibility of GECOM and that political parties and other civil society groups also have a role to play.

Ward, however, acknowledged that more could have been done by GECOM. “We believe that there is quite a lot more that could have been done in terms of Civil and Voter Education (CVE),” she explained, while noting that that while there usually is a CVE Manager, that post is currently empty at the commission.

Touching base

Meanwhile, APNU+AFC parliamentarian Audwin Rutherford told Stabroek News that fighting the disillusionment with the local government system has been one of the pillars of the AFC’s campaign in Linden.

The Municipality of Linden in 2016 recorded the lowest voter participation at 35.15%—significantly lower than the overall voter turnout of 47.1%.

Rutherford, however, is certain that his party, which is contesting separately from APNU this time around, can shift the tide.

“We have decided to touch base with the people on the roads and in their homes and so far I think we have covered more that 50% [of the municipality],” he explained.

According to Rutherford, the party has not and will not be holding large public meetings, which he believes have become a “comedy show.”

“Public meetings are talk down meetings. Right now we are fighting a lack of confidence in the local government body and we are working to change a mindset. I don’t think we can do that unless we are listening to the people. They have said they want to see the council’s finances better managed and we have promised them a better, more competent mix of councillors who will do just that,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Oral Semple, of the Georgetown National Service (GNS) party, told Stabroek News that he was working to reach the people where they really stay, “on social media.”

“Voter education is part of my campaign. I have a weekly television programme and I have been visiting homes but people are not at home during the day, so I have moved to Facebook and YouTube. The last six months of my programme content is on YouTube and I’ve been sharing my posters in Facebook groups to get people’s attention,” Semple explained.

Semple, who describes himself in his campaign material as a mayoral candidate, noted that he has been receiving positive response from those he has engaged. “The emails they are all positive. People want to hear what GNS wants to say and want to see what we can do,” he stressed.