Smooth voting process recorded in Regions 5, 6 as thousands cast ballots

As the General and Regional Elections got underway on Monday, polls opened on time at 06:00h at more than 400 polling stations across Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
Scrutineers from two of the major political parties told Guyana Times early in the morning that there were no issues. A senior Police Officer in the region also said there were no issues.

There were no reports of anyone being disenfranchised because they did not have an official document to identify them.
Some 111,554 persons are on the voters’ list in Region Six, spread across 435 polling stations.
In Region Five, the total voters were 50,790, with 193 polling stations in that region.
In the most eastern region, which this publication visited when polls opened, some related that they normally come out early to vote, and this time was no different.
At the Tutorial Academy Secondary School building, which had five polling stations and a combined voter population of 1783, some said that they arrived more than an hour before polls opened.

“I always like to be the first voter every time there is an election. I always like to be the first voter. I left home at 4:30 this morning. When I came here, they hadn’t anybody as yet,” Hollis Amsterdam, who was the first to cast a ballot at one of the five polling stations, told this publication.
Vincent Barker, who was also first at another of the five polling stations, said he left home at 04:15h. “Everything was smooth,” he recalled. He said that he did not leave home with his cell phone, hence had no issue with being asked to leave his phone out of the polling booth.
In fact, most of the people this publication communicated with did not walk with their cell phones.
While voting was peaceful in all the polling stations throughout Region Five, there was a build-up from when polls opened to mid-afternoon, after which there was a steady flow of voter traffic.
In East Canje, Region Six, voters were also out early in their numbers, but after the early birds had left, polling stations saw a trickle.
Latifan Bhadan said she left home at 7:00h and was able to walk straight into the polling booth. She and her husband went together and spent about six minutes before leaving, also together.
On the Corentyne, it was a similar situation: there were crowds at many of the polling stations when they opened, but by mid-morning, voters who turned up reported the process was hassle-free.
At the close of the poll on Monday evening, however, some political parties expressed the view that the voter turnout may not have lived up to expectations.