A PLEA FOR CALM was sent out to all Guyanese last night, as unforeseen delays in the counting process of over 2 000 ballot boxes prevented any results whatsoever of yesterday’s election being given.
At 11 p.m., chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr Steve Surujbally, explained that the delay was caused by incoming results having to be authenticated by officers and party agents at respective polling stations, followed by the need to be seen by the returning officer and finally signed by the Chief Election Officer.
“Even though the polling stopped at 6 p.m., it still took time to process those who were still in lines…and then the count began. In the meantime, there have been reports about presiding officers not allowing party agents and observers to go inside for the count, and that took some time to be sorted out,” he said, adding that the process was proving to be a painstaking one without the use of electronic counting, which had caused problems in the past.
Surujbally said while Guyuanese therefore had to wait until sometime this afternoon to find out how the large turnout of people had voted yesterday, it was necessary to be calm despite understandable anxiety about the results. He therefore asked the media and others to join him in asking Guyanese to peacefully allow the process to unfold.
