“Overweight causes plane to leave polling agents behind”

There were no political party agents taken on a flight to Region Eight on Friday to observe voting of members of Disciplined Forces stationed in the area. According to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), three agents were left behind because the plane taking them on Friday would have been overweight.

That caused a decision to leave them behind, rather than take one or two of the agents.

The Opposition had complained bitterly of one of their agents not being able to participate in overseeing the voting process.

GECOM said it is appalled by reports in some sections of the media which seemingly created an impression that the agent for the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) was the only agent who did not get on the flight to Region Eight to observe the Disciplined Services balloting on Friday. Members of the police force, the army, and the prison services, were among 10,000plus persons expected to cast their ballot.

GECOM said that the Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield, held a meeting with the elections agents of all political parties on February 15, 2020 to provide details pertaining to the operational activities for the conduct of Disciplined Services voting for the General and Regional Elections.

“Subsequent to the meeting, the CEO provided a detailed movement plan, the payload for each aircraft and the number of persons that can be accommodated. On arrival at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport at Ogle on Friday, 21st February, 2020 the pilot advised that all the scheduled passengers could not go on the flight since the weight was above the 600lbs payload.”

The passengers who were scheduled to be on the flight included the

GECOM Balloting Officers, Commissioner Vincent Alexander, a police officer and three agents from Coalition, PPP/C and URP. GECOM made it clear that the pilot advised that two persons would not be able go on the flight. “As such, it was decided that rather than taking one agent and leaving two, no agent would go on the flight.

“This is a regrettable situation. However, in the interest of ensuring safety and that the statutory activity of Disciplined Services Balloting proceeded as planned, the best decision was taking in this regard.” GECOM assured that the process was observed by international observers on the ground which lends itself to a level of transparency. Officials reported that just over 80 percent of the 10,000strong Disciplined Services voted on Friday.

(Kaieteur News)