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36% total voter turnout at recent LGE lower than 2016 – GECOM
GECOM Chairman Justice (retd) Patterson James is flanked by Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward, Chief Elections Officer of GECOM, Keith Lowenfield; and Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) said it is not to be blamed for the low voter turnout at Monday’s Local Government Elections (LGE).
The Commission revealed yesterday that of the 572,531 eligible voters, 208,534 or 36% participated in the process. This is an 11% reduction from the 47% voter turnout in 2016.
Among the Municipalities, Mabaruma, where there is an ongoing probe into alleged voter irregularities, had the highest percentage turnout with 60%. Some 1,808 cast their vote from among the 3,021 eligible voters.
The town of Linden saw the lowest turnout with 5,221 persons or 20% of the 26,184 voter population. Anna Regina recorded a 44% voter turnout, Georgetown, 24%; New Amsterdam, 29%; Rose Hall, 48%; Corriverton, 42%; Bartica, 40%; Mahdia, 36%; and Lethem, 52%.
Among the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils, the Aranaputa/Upper Burro Burro, Region Nine, had the highest turnout of 74% where 261 of the 353 eligible voters participated in the process.
GECOM’s Chairman, Justice (ret’d) James Patterson said he is hoping that ‘this apathy will end with the last elections, and that as citizens we will be eager to exercise our franchise in future elections to come’.
GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield appeared to shift the responsibility for more voter education programmes to the Ministry of Communities, which oversees some aspects of the management of local organs.
“There’s another department of government that is responsible for local government administration. I think the education starts there, no doubt, an all-year-round process to keep the electorate au fait with what is local governance, what it offers,” Lowenfield said.
Lowenfield added that political parties and other candidates participating in LGE should equally ensure that voters are aware of the procedures and importance of voting on elections day.
Despite the low turnout, GECOM struggled to release the official results the day after voting as promised.
Lowenfield explained that the delay was of a result of GECOM wanting to ensure that the allocation of seats for the proportional representation component is accurate.
“In 2016, when we rushed to declare we had other issues that when four seats were to be provided to a party and only three were proved,” Lowenfield noted.
The CEO said he understands the anxiety created with any delay in the results of General and Regional Elections, but there is a bit of caution in wanting to ensure that the error that occurred in 2016 doesn’t happen in 2018.
Lowenfield explained that the results were posted early outside the polling station; hence, the parties knew the results early, but GECOM wanted to accurately declare the seats.
“What we sought to do this time around is to ensure that whenever we come to the media, there is absolutely accuracy in the provision of the seats, primarily those comprised from the PR component… that they are correctly added, calculated, and no information that would be erroneously provided to parties that they would have garnered four seats, for example, and when the arithmetic shows that it is only three.”
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