CEO lauds LGE 2023 as ‘smooth flowing’

– says GECOM yet to analyse voter turnout statistics

More than three weeks after the holding of Local Government Elections (LGE) 2023, Chief Elections Officer (CEO) at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Vishnu Persaud has expressed his satisfaction with the election activities, which he said “flowed smoothly”.
The CEO made these remarks at a recent press briefing – the first since the local government polls were held on June 12 – during which he and other GECOM officials give a limited review of the conduct of the recent elections.
According to Persaud, LGE 2023 met expectations as it relates to the conduct of “credible elections.”
“I can give the assurance that with specific reference to the Election Day, all logistical arrangements flowed smoothly towards ensuring that adequate staffing was in place, all materials were in place to ensure that polls in every single instance opened [on time at 06:00h and closed at 18:00h].”
“We have not received, to date, any single expression of complaints or concern that would cast doubt on the manner in which the elections were conducted,” the CEO posited.
The June 12 local government polls were monitored by some 227 observers from 11 observer groups including diplomatic missions in Guyana.
Following the close of polls, Persaud pointed out that most of the declarations of results were made statutorily and publicly, before midnight, on June 12. He added that the declaration of the results for LGE 2023 from all 80 Local Authority Areas across the country was made within 36 hours of the close of the poll.
Contrary to public perception, it was explained that, unlike General and Regional Elections, the Election Secretariat, which is headed by the CEO, is not required to make an official declaration of the results. That responsibility sits with the respective Returning Officers for the various districts across the country, who make declarations outside of the respective polling stations as well as post the results from each LAA on GECOM’s website.
“As CEO, and having been involved in the previous election, I know and I’m proud of the time we took and the manner in which these results were declared,” Persaud contended.
He further explained that the only delay in the declaration of results would be for those LAAs where requests for recounts were made. There were six such requests made and according to the CEO, the results from those recounts did not cause any “material changes” to the original vote count.
Moreover, Persaud further noted that GECOM had to await the submission of the extracted Candidates from the Proportional Representation (PR) Lists of the LGE contestants who won seats before gazetting the results of the elections. This was done a few days ago.
“We were always on the ball awaiting the submissions which would enable us to make the submission for it to be gazetted. I can assure you that the results for the Local Government Elections 2023 were gazette on Wednesday last,” the CEO noted.

Voter turnout
The results from the recently concluded local government polls have so far indicated a low voter turnout at this year’s election. However, GECOM is yet to conduct an official assessment to ascertain this information.
CEO Persaud informed reporters at Friday’s press conference that “…we have not conducted an analysis to determine turnout, whether at the individual Local Authority Area levels or at the national level. However, the results are published and any person who wishes to do such an analysis is free to do so without any clearance from us.”
“We will in due course be embarking on such an exercise but we have not had the time to do that just yet. We had much more immediate activities to focus on.”
However, this utterance by the CEO comes on the heels of the Elections Secretariat providing voter turnout statistics just one week after the Disciplined Services cast their ballots on June 2.
At a press conference on June 9, Deputy Chief Election Officer Aneal Giddings had reported that a 47 per cent turnout was recorded after the Disciplined Services voted.
Registered voters under the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) were 2684; whereby 1361 votes were cast or 50.71 per cent. For Guyana Police Force (GPF), some 5979 ranks were registered to vote, with 2717 votes cast, representing a 45.44 per cent turnout.
With regard to the Guyana Prison Service, registered voters accounted for 430 officers with 239 votes cast or 55.58 per cent.
At the last Local Government Elections held on November 12, 2018, GECOM had reported just four days later on November 16 that there was a voter turnout of just 36 per cent of the electorate.
The data at the time indicated that out of 572,531 persons registered to vote, only 208,534 actually went out to cast their ballots. This 36 per cent in 2018 is compared to a 47 per cent voter turnout when LGE was held in 2016.
Meanwhile, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic has secured a landslide victory at the 2023 LGE, sweeping 66 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs) across the country.
Results showed that the governing PPP/C won 62 of the LAAs and tied with the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in four areas. However, since the PPP/C received the majority of votes cast, it is expected to assume the chairmanship.
Meanwhile, the PPP/C also won the majority of votes in seven of the country’s 10 townships. These include Mabaruma, Mahdia, Lethem, Corriverton, Rose Hall, Bartica and Anna Regina while APNU managed to regain the majority in Georgetown, New Amsterdam, and Linden – two municipalities less than the last LGE. (G-8)