A 47 per cent turnout was recorded after the Disciplined Services cast their ballots for Local Government Elections last Friday, according to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
“It caters to 47 per cent turnout as opposed to 39 percent in 2018,” Deputy Chief Election Officer, Aneal Giddings informed reporters at a press conference on Friday.
Registered voters under the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) were 2684; whereby 1361 votes were cast or 50.71 per cent.
For Guyana Police Force (GPF), some 5979 ranks were registered to vote, with 2717 votes cast, representing a 45.44 per cent turnout.
For the Guyana Prison Service, registered voters accounted for 430 officers with 239 votes cast or 55.58 per cent.
Members of the Disciplined Forces voted on June 2, 2023. As far as practicable, separate lists were prepared and signed off by representatives of the agencies. Chief Elections Officer, Vishnu Persaud informed that it was a smooth process to GECOM’s satisfaction.
Following this, the ballots needed to be sorted to be counted in the constituency where the voter registered. This has been successfully completed.
He informed the media, “Those votes have been separated by constituency, and they are packaged and ready to be moved on election day, so that they can be properly in intermixed.”
Persaud relayed that every rank whose name was on the list was allowed to vote since “not a single complaint” was received of such. However, if persons could not vote on D-Day, they can do so at the respective polling stations on Election Day.
“As far as I am aware, every single person who turned up to vote were allowed to, provided their names are on the list for the particular ballot station. These lists were signed off by persons authorised to do so on behalf of the respective Forces. The preparation of these lists is done in collaboration with us. We at GECOM will never know where a rank is stationed. What we will have, is that rank registered in our national register of registrants and by extension, in the register of voters for the LAA in which he or she resident,” he explained.
GECOM had announced that the Disciplined Services would vote on June 2, in keeping with Sections 74A and 74I of the Local Authorities (Amendment) Act. Disciplined Services encompass the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), the Guyana Fire Service and the Guyana Prison Service.
Voting for the Disciplined Services is traditionally held separately from the general population because the Disciplined Services will have their hands full ensuring law and order is maintained when the general population votes.
