Disciplined Services records higher voter turnout at 2023 LGE

Jun 10, 2023 News

– 47 per cent turnout recorded against 30 per cent in 2018

Kaieteur News – The Disciplined Services recorded a higher turnout at the 2023 local government polls when compared to the last local elections held in 2018.  This is according information provided at a press conference held by officials of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Friday.

A member of the discipline service casts his ballot (file photo)

Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud revealed that the turnout was over 50 per cent for both the prison service and army.

Deputy CEO, Aneal Giddings, provided the overall statistics which showed a 17 per cent increase in voter turnout among the Disciplined Services.

According to the DCEO, 47 per cent turnout was recorded in 2023 against a 30 per cent in 2018.

“For the Guyana Defence Force, some 1, 361 ballots were cast from a total of 2, 684 registered voters, and for the Guyana Police Force, a total of 2, 717 persons voted from a total of 5, 979 registered voters; that constituted a 50.7 and 45.4 per cent turnout.

A total of 239 persons from the Prison Service voted out of a total of 430 voters, constituting a 55.5 per cent turnout; this is an increase of 41.6 per cent from 2018.”

These ballots will be taken to the constituencies where the Disciplined Services’ members should have voted, intermixed, and counted when the elections run-off on June 12.

The CEO said that the process was smooth except for a single incident where a ballot was given to someone in error.  As such, he said the affected person will be allowed to vote on Monday.

On June 2, members from the Disciplined Services turned out to designated polling places across the country to cast the first set of votes in this year’s LGE.

Following the close of polls, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GECOM, Yolanda Ward told Kaieteur news that GECOM had set up 84 ballot boxes across the various polling stations.

“I would not be able to give a number of voters based on the turn out but what I can say is if the ranks didn’t get to vote with the rest of the joint services, they can still vote at their respective Local Authority Area come June 12, 2023,” she explained.

Of the over 9000 members of the joint services , many ranks were set to participate in the voting  process, the GDF’s voting population accounted for 2, 799 rank. The GDF ranks voted at 23 locations within their compounds.

Meanwhile, members of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) cast their ballots at five polling stations.

Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliot said a total of 493 ranks were expected to vote countrywide. Of that amount, 63 will not cast their vote since there is only one approved list of candidates in the Local Authority Areas (LAAs) for those ranks.

“It was a problem-free process as voters were able to exercise their franchise without any hindrance at each polling station. As expected, there were no difficulties across the five prison locations,” Mr. Elliot said.

Throughout the day polling stations had visits from several GECOM officials, including Chair of GECOM, Justice (retired) Claudette Singh and party agents.

• A member of the discipline service casts his ballot (file photo), A total of 239 persons from the Prison Service voted, Chief Elections Officer