GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC- The two main contenders for the post of President Monday said they were confident of victory after casting ballots in the general election.
The presidential candidate for the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) Donald Ramotar said he was confident and was looking “forward to establishing a regional administration which could improve the condition of our lives and at the national level I look forward to establishing a government which could represent all of the interests of our people”.
But his main challenger, David Granger, the retired Brigadier of the opposition grouping, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), said he is equally convinced ‘that the majority of the Guyanese population have understood our message and will give us support this day”.
Granger said that the 2011 election is “vastly different” from previous poll.
“There has been tremendous momentum on the part of the population and people have turned out at our rallies in thousands and there’s a wave of expectation that life will be better for Guyanese people. There is a wave of expectation that life will be better for Guyanese people we are living a large country by Caribbean standards,” he added.
Ramotar acknowledged that the APNU appeared to have galvanized its traditional support base but remained confident that neither the APNU nor the Alliance For Change (AFC) will pull the PPP/C’s traditional supporters.
“There is no doubt about that because the record has been showing since 1992 that the PPP has been gaining more and more cross-over votes. I think this election will be bigger because we have been able to demonstrate that we don’t discriminate in our government policies and the resources of the country has been distributed to every single region very fairly,” said Ramotar.
Law enforcement officials say security has been beefed up for the poll in which 475, 496 voters will elect members for the 65-member National Assembly.
Police, as well as teams from the Joint Services, are deployed to several parts of the country to maintain law and order and the Private Sector Commission (PSC) has also set up its own security team and committee to provide assistance where necessary.
The major political parties have begun to call on supporters to stay calm, exude professionalism, and maintain an atmosphere of tranquillity.
