The Presidential Candidate of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Irfaan Ali, told reporters today that one of their agents was told that she could not be accommodated on a flight bound for Upper Mazaruni to observe voting of joint-services’ officials.
“…[Agent] was supposed to join the flight at Ogle to go into Upper Maz[aruni]…When she turned up to join the team on that flight, she was told there’s no space for her, as a result, she could not go. So, we have a situation there where the polling is talking place without our polling agent being there after being ejected from the flight by the officials,” he said.
Asked to clarify if she was ejected, or could not be accommodated due to the lack of space, Ali said: “Well, they were supposed to make provisions to take the polling agents – that’s a part of the preparedness, that is part of what GECOM (Guyana Elections Commission) had to put in place to ensure that the polling agents are there to represent the party…So, it is of major concern for us.”
Ali said that the Executive Secretary of the Party, Zulfikar Mustapha, has already written to GECOM.
Aside from this issue, Ali reported that voting at the other locations “seems to be going smoothly”.
When the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GECOM, Yolanda Ward was contacted for a comment on the matter, she said: “I am not sure as to what was the exact circumstances surrounding that. I will have to find out and I will revert to you.”
