The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday confirmed that a mere 36.3% or 208,534 of the 573,923 registered electors turned up to cast their ballots when the 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE) were held across the country on Monday.
The figure represents a more than 10% decline from the 47.1% recorded for the 2016 LGE. At the time of those elections, 239,070 of the 507,584 persons eligible to vote cast their ballots. Based on these figures, this year’s polls saw over 30,000 fewer voters.
While Chairman of the Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM) James Patterson yesterday said the low turnout was disturbing, he was quick to point out that “GECOM cannot be blamed for voter apathy.”