Preliminary results from yesterday’s historic local government polls show that the governing APNU+AFC coalition was sweeping the contests in Georgetown and Bartica.
The strong showing by the coalition would be interpreted as support for its stewardship since May and a vote confidence in President David Granger.
Despite low voter turnout for the elections, which were run off for the first time since 1994, the Statements of Poll available up to press time showed that voters in Georgetown cast their ballots overwhelmingly in favour of the ruling APNU+AFC coalition in both the Proportional Representation (PR) and First-Past-the Post races.
In the PR contests, preliminary results showed that the coalition won in excess of 50% of the votes cast in south and central Georgetown.
Despite his highly publicised campaign, Mark Benschop’s Team Benschop for Mayor was unable to secure any significant portion of the votes, even in his own constituency of South Ruimveldt.
At Benschop’s place of poll, Roxanne Burnham Nursery, he gained 36 votes, while Saiku Andrews, of Team Legacy, gained 32 votes and Sherod Duncan, of the APNU+AFC, gained 231 votes.
Elsewhere in the constituency, Benschop holds a distant third to Andrews and Duncan. Results for the six polling places at the South Ruimveldt Primary School showed Benschop gaining a total of 64 votes, while Andrews gained 168 votes and Duncan amassed 478 votes.
Overall, the majority of polling stations reported votes cast to be well below the registered number of electors assigned.
In Constituency 12 (Tucville-North Ruimveldt), where former Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green ruled supreme, there were 379 votes cast at two stations at Tucville Secondary School, despite a total of 817 registered voters. This represented a 46% voter turnout.
Meanwhile, the Bartica Independent Green Alliance (BIGA), which appeared to offer the coalition serious competition in the newly-formed municipality, did not manage to attract as much support from voters as the coalition.
Head of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) electoral observer mission, Captain Gerry Gouveia, speaking with Stabroek News last evening, said that though reports were still coming in, his team has so far received no reports of any anomalies. “The voting was quiet and the process was smooth,” he said.
He noted that the PSC, which has observed the elections in Lethem and areas in regions 5, 6, and 7, observed that turnout was very low in all of these areas. He attributed the situation to poor campaigning and lack of knowledge on the part of the voters.
“Gecom [Guyana Elections Commission] tried very hard to sensitise and educate persons but the population did not pay attention as much they should and I don’t think people understand the importance of local government elections in their life,” he said.
He added that though Gecom did a hell of a job, the candidates didn’t do a good job campaigning and making persons familiar with them and their plans.
He noted the he lives in Bel Air Park and didn’t know his constituency’s candidates. “I saw several strange faces on the ballot paper today, as I’m sure many other voters did,” he added.
Berbice
In Berbice, there was also a relatively low turnout and older citizens appeared to make up the majority of those who used the opportunity to vote.
As early as 6am, some trekked to the place of polls only to find that Gecom had made some polling station changes. They were, however, determined to find the polling stations, even if they had to ride or, in some cases, walk the distance. Many of them were optimistic that the candidates would bring about a positive change.
At a polling station at Rosetta Hussain’s residence, at Lot 55 Stanleytown, the elderly complained that the access was too steep for them. Many had to be supported but they were not deterred by the inconvenience. Others complained of a stench emanating from another station at Lot 45 Stanleytown.
In some areas, the elderly and the shut-ins were shuttled to and from the places of poll. However, in some cases their relatives complained that they had no one to assist them.
Persons also complained of not knowing where to vote and blame was cast on the various candidates for not notifying the members of their respectively constituencies.
“I don’t know who to vote for… I never see the candidate,” said one voter, who only gave his name as Thomas, of Cumberland, East Canje.
When contacted, candidate Newton Winfield, blamed his lack of transportation. He expected that his party, the APNU+AFC coalition, would have assisted with a vehicle.
Some of his supporters, who sat along with him in the Cumberland bus shed, pointed out that fact that his running mate was ferrying persons to the poll station in his car.
“That man got two, three cars fetching people. He nah get nothing. We thought de party would a help with a vehicle so de man could go and get he people dem… he nah get nothing. Da man done win de race,” one supporter said.
Meanwhile, a group of youths were seen liming at Lot 39 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam. For them, the coalition government had already won the polls and they did not see the need to cast their ballots.
“APNU+AFC done get hey lock… we good, you know…we good,” one responded when asked if they had cast their ballots.
Candidate Samuel Fraser of the Number Four constituency was riding around on his motorcycle, checking the voter turnout at the places of poll.
At 1pm, under 100 persons had cast their ballots out of 1,569. However, he was optimistic that there would be an improvement by the close of polls at 6pm. There was not.
Essequibo Coast
Stabroek News observed voter activity on the Essequibo Coast, where the turnout was also low.
When Stabroek News visited several polling stations in the area, only a few voters were seen going to cast their ballots, while in one instance a polling station at Dartmouth Village had no voters for approximately 15 minutes.
Gaston Boston, who voted at the Dartmouth Community Centre, told Stabroek News that it was his first time voting at local government elections.
“The process was very easy but since I have been here deh ain’t had plenty persons here. The people didn’t come out. Maybe people will come out when they finish their work or later in the day,” he said.
However, this did not prove true as at Charity Secondary School, at 3:19pm, only four persons were seen going to cast their ballots.
Ava Thompson, who voted at that polling station, told Stabroek News that she believes the poor turnout was a results of inadequate campaigning on the part of candidates and she was full of praise for Gecom’s staff. “The process of voting was very simple and the polling agents were cooperative,” she said.
Like all the other voters interviewed by Stabroek News, Thompson exercised her franchise in the hope of improving her community.
“In my community I would like to see the streets and road developed. We need street lights and better supply of water in Charity and hopefully we will get these things done with the help of the group that is elected,” she said.
Another voter, Venna Pitman, who was early to vote yesterday, said that she needs to see several things improved in Dartmouth, including more opportunities for young children to attend school.
“In this community, the streets and so are good but I need to see children going to school. I think if the parents could have afford, they would have sent their children to school but because they can’t afford it, their children don’t go to school. We need more jobs created so that the parents can be financially stable,” she said.
West Demerara
The atmosphere was calm and the voter turn-out was low yesterday at most of the polling places in the West Demerara area.
It was obvious that residents did not take the LGE seriously as compared to the National/Regional elections when most of the polling places would have long lines from early morning.
Some of the polling agents that this newspaper spoke to said it could be that people were “not interested or they did not understand how important their input is to the development of the community.” It was also believed that most people were planning to go after work to vote.
A polling agent in the Toevlugt/Patentia Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) said since the doors opened at 6 am voters were coming in “one by one or in small groups. They were just voting as soon as they come and leaving. There was no line.”
This was not the case at a polling place in Canal No 1 one though. A voter said he went there at 5:30 am to be the first to cast his vote before going to market to sell. He was surprised though, to find that there was already a long line of voters before him.
He was only able to vote at 6:30 am and said that although there was a crowd the process went smoothly.
At the Wales market, most of the vendors said they were planning to go back to their areas to vote after selling.
Another polling agent said it was going “slowly but smoothly” and that there was good response from the young and old.
It was observed that candidates and supporters were transporting elderly residents to cast their ballots.
At the Wales/Patentia area Stabroek News was told that residents were “tense and worried” about the future of their community due to the planned closure of the sugar estate and hoped that the LGE can “bring betterment…”
A young voter, Stacy Seenarine, 21, said she did not know what the LGE was all about.
But she went out to vote because the candidates went around and encouraged her to go out. She was excited to see what they would do.
Another voter, Steven Asrayya, 43, was also unaware of how the LGE works. He just had a little idea that the representatives would “look after the area. I don’t know how true…”
Three voters were sitting in front of the Patentia Secondary School after casting their ballots. They came out at 7 am and said they also noticed that, “people were hardly coming out.”
One of them, Majeed Khan, a cane harvester said he was worried about how he would earn an income after the estate closes but knows that “when the time comes” he has to find a way to “survive.”
Some of the other voters that this newspaper caught up with complained that they could not “take the pressure” they were facing, regarding the closing of the estate, after the new government took office.
They said the “president [David Granger] did not deliver what he promised” and were worried about how they would be able to repay their loans, pay their bills and take care of their families.
A farmer said he was “planning to go bigger into farming but it doesn’t make sense to plant more if I don’t get sale for my produce.”
Meanwhile, another resident said, “Government needs to bring down the $7,500 fine for motorists.”
He said drivers would prefer to pay a bribe of $2000 or $3000 to the police to let them go rather than paying the government the high amount. If it was lower, he said, the government would get the revenue.
He said too that people in high offices should stop being so hostile to members of the public and not treat them as “low class. They should realize that we were the ones who put them there…” (Additional reporting by Shabna Rahman and Kenesha Fraser)
