The Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) said yesterday that of the 507,584 people eligible to vote in Friday’s Local Government Elections (LGE) 239,070 people (47.1%) chose to exercise their franchise.
In a release to the press, Gecom stated that of the 239,070 votes cast in the 71 Local Government Authorities (LGAs) 236,323 were deemed valid.
The turnout figure represents a 10% increase over the estimated figure provided by Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield on Saturday. It also represents a decrease from the 47.91% of voters who participated in the 1994 LGE.
According to the data, the lowest turnout was recorded in the Municipality of Linden where the ruling APNU+AFC coalition has secured 15 of the 16 council seats. In that municipality, only 8,279 or 35.15 % of the 23,880 registered voters took part in the elections.
The capital city of Georgetown whose council will also be dominated by the coalition recorded the second lowest voter turnout at 37.66%. Of the 112,364 registered voters only 42,313 cast their ballots. This is a 4% increase on the 33.37% of voters who participated in the 1994 LGE in Georgetown.
The highest municipal voter turnouts were recorded in the new municipalities of Mabaruma, Lethem and Bartica.
In Mabaruma, 1,495 votes were cast from among the 2,558 eligible voters in the community. That represented a high of 58.68%. Lethem recorded 50.35% voter participation and Bartica saw 49.15% of its eligible voters casting their ballots.
Across the 71 LGAs, the highest voter participation was recorded in the NDC of Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara at 63.56%. Most LGAs saw voter turnout in the range of 45-55% in contrast to the 1994 LGA which according to the International Foundation For Electoral Systems (IFES) saw most areas registering turnouts in the high 50s and 60s with some more than 70%.
