…as GECOM denies poor ink quality
Leader of the Opposition Dr Bharrat Jagdeo says that the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) would have received a number of complaints about the quality of ink used by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) noting that it could be easily removed.
Jagdeo made the statement after he finished casting his ballot at the St John’s College in Georgetown.
The former President related that they have instructed their polling agents to pay close attention to persons who may want to vote twice owing to the easy removal of the ink.
“So what we have asked our polling agents now is to pay particular attention to people who have voted before who may attempt to come back in and vote. So that is one safeguard against ink being removed, so we asked our polling agents to look at this,” Jagdeo told reporters.
Additionally, he said that over one per cent of their proposed Polling Agents have been snubbed by GECOM since they did not receive accreditation.
This he attributed to either the lack of comprehensive training on the part of GECOM or the “capricious partisan action on the part of some Presiding Officers.”
“We have about one per cent of the total ballot stations without Polling Agents because of one or another problem this morning. We are trying to get people in there now but we have asked our leaders in those areas to pay particular attention to those boxes when we see the results to see if it departs from the national averages where we don’t have the one per cent with problems,” Jagdeo explained.
Meanwhile, GECOM Public Relations Officer Yolanda Warde said that the ink is of the highest quality but noted that would have used ink left over from the 2016 Local Government Elections (LGE).
She also explained that the Returning Officers (RO) would have submitted all the list of accepted Polling Agents and that they would have already received accreditation.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and his wife Sita Nagamootoo voted at the National Aquatic Center in Lilliendaal.
He said that they have received reports of a smooth process throughout the country adding that the voters turnout has been reported as low.
The acting President also expressed regret that President David Granger and First Lady Sandra Granger could not have voted owing to the fact that Granger is yet to be given the go ahead to travel from his doctors in Cuba.
