By Jomo Paul
According to Special Representative, Dr. Domingo Paredes the electoral team has observed the May 11 polls at 33 different polling stations in Guyana and concluded that thus far everything was proceeding as “normal” as it should be.
When questioned by the media about the disturbances that have been widely covered by iNews, the observers responded that while, they have seen these reports, they were vague.
“The disturbances when we have had our very own elections in our home countries; we were able to learn from it very quickly…the media reports are very vague and general…there are no grounds for an alarm,” said Paredes via an interpreter.
He said that the important thing is that peace prevails after polls would have closed at 18:00hrs tonight.
“The information that we have reported is the information given to us by the members…the most important thing is to see after peace and not to promote alarm within the citizens,” he said.
He explained that from what the team has observed, the Guyanese citizenry must be congratulated for its willingness to go out and vote, and do so in an orderly manner.
“We must point out and also congratulate the citizens of Guyana for their participation…The electoral polling stations as are filled with citizens who are,” eager to vote, he noted adding that “every polling station had all the electoral material that allowed for citizens to exercise their right to vote.”
The only criticism the group had for the Guyana Elections Commission was that there were no systems in place to cater for the elderly and handicapped persons.
The team observed the voting process in Region Three at Parika, Region Four; Region Six and Region Ten. These four regions are generally seen as polarized towards specific political parties with the exception of Region 4 which is seen as a mixed base of political advocates.
Guyana and guyanese needs peace.