Members of the disciplined forces turned out in their masses to cast their votes yesterday and Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally said the process ran “smoothly” despite a few minor hitches.

<dl class="gallery-item"><dt class="gallery-icon landscape"></dt><dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Members of the Guyana Defence Force show their ink-stained fingers after voting at Camp Ayanganna. (Photo by Arian Browne)</dd></dl><dl class="gallery-item"><dt class="gallery-icon landscape"></dt><dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Members of the Guyana Defence Force lined up to vote at the Coastguard Headquarters at Ramp Road, Ruimveldt yesterday. (Photo by Arian Browne)</dd></dl><dl class="gallery-item"><dt class="gallery-icon landscape"></dt><dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Police officers lined up to vote at Eve Leary yesterday. (Photo by Arian Browne)</dd></dl>

Thousands of soldiers, police and prison officers lined up at polling stations as early as 6 am to cast their ballots, prompting a spokesman for the opposition coalition to say that Gecom would need to prepare for a similar occurrence when rest of the country votes on May 11. As a result of the early voting, by midday most polling stations at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) headquarters at Camp Ayanganna and at the Guyana Police Force Headquarters at Eve Leary were deserted except for polling officials.

The polling stations were opened from 6 am until 6 pm yesterday for the vote, which is usually conducted before civilians head to the polls. The ballots cast yesterday will be sorted and then sent to the polling stations in the geographical district where the voter is registered for counting along with the civilian ballots on elections day. Until then, they would be secured at the Gecom headquarters. This procedure is undertaken to ensure confidentiality of the voting choices of members of the security forces.

When Stabroek News visited the different polling stations in Georgetown yesterday morning, Carter Center observers were seen watching on as members of the security forces cast their ballots. One of the observers noted that process at the Guyana Police Force Sports Club was moving smoothly with minimum glitches.

Meanwhile, President Donald Ramotar and the leader of the opposition coalition David Granger also visited the polling stations, which included the three stations at Camp Ayanganna and the two at Eve Leary. In addition to observers from the Carter Center, ChargÉ d’ Affaires of the US Embassy in Georgetown Bryan Hunt as well as representatives from the European Union Delegation and the Canadian High Commission visited the sites to observe the process.

“We are setting the bar for those who will vote on May 11,” Public Affairs official Captain Edmond Blair told Stabroek News at Camp Ayanganna as he noted the smooth flow at the stations. “We want the same to happen on May 11. People should come out early and vote. There should be no problems,” he added.

A soldier, who was seen leaving the camp after voting, said he was surprised at the orderliness of the process and that there were no snags with electors. “The lines were long but it was moving quickly,” he said.

A member of the Coastguard, who had just finished casting her ballot, stated that she was pleased with the short time she had to spend in the line to vote. “The first time I voted was in Berbice but this time it was better. The line moved faster and people were happy with that,” she said.

A police officer at Eve Leary happily stated that he was glad “everything ran smoothly” and that they were hoping for the same on Elections Day.

Prison officers, however, declined to speak with media, saying they were not permitted to say anything. Nonetheless, by 12 pm it was clear that most prison officials had already voted.

‘Calm and fluidity’

Surujbally told Stabroek News stated that he had visited the stations and was satisfied with the “calm and fluidity” of the voting process. However, he indicated that there were some hitches. He said there were certain isolated instances when electors would have failed to inform their commanders that they would be voting on May 11 and not yesterday.

He explained that those situations had caused some amount of trouble since those electors’ names were already on the list to vote yesterday. He added that some voters had turned up without identification cards.

“However, everything ran smoothly as planned. There were great improvements from the previous times,” he said, while adding that he hopes it will be the same on May 11. “There wasn’t any huge exhibition of dissatisfaction from the voters and we can only hope that it will be the same on Elections Day,” he further said.

Meanwhile, Gecom emphasised that ballot papers issued to members of the disciplined forces were not be stamped with the official six-digit stamp when they were handed out to ranks for them to vote. It said the ballot papers will be stamped on Elections Day, when they are sent to be mixed and counted with civilian votes at gazetted polling stations.

Gecom also said the entire process relative to voting by members of the disciplined forces was being observed by political parties’ agents and by local and international Observers. “Gecom takes this opportunity to guarantee that the votes cast by all members of the Disciplined Forces will be counted on Election Day,” it said in a press release.

‘Prepare for it’

APNU+AFC campaign co-chair Joseph Harmon told Stabroek News that the coalition was pleased with the voting process despite some setbacks at polling stations in Berbice.

“I think the voting process was incident-free,” he said, while indicating that there was a large turn-out of servicemen and women.

He said the turnout was an indication of what will occur on May 11. “So Gecom better get their act together and prepare for it,” he stated.

Harmon also noted that measures have been put in place for ranks who were unable to vote yesterday. He stated that a procedure was set up by Gecom for them to vote in the communities in which they live.

In addition, Harmon stated that servicemen expressed concern that their ballot papers were not stamped. He stated that despite Gecom releasing a statement on the matter, he did not think the explanation was properly filtered to the ranks.

Stabroek News attempted to contact the PPP/C campaign for a comment but was unsuccessful. A call was made to PPP Executive Secretary Zulficar Mustapha, who directed the questions to Ganga Persaud. When Persaud was contacted, he stated that he was not authorised to speak before directing the questions to the PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee. Stabroek News was unable to make contact with Rohee.