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| Parties expect a large turnout in today's polls (File photo) | |
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, August 28, 2006 - Voting is underway in national and regional elections this morning with President Bharrat Jagdeo promising a "tamper-proof" elections which he is predicting that his party will win.
His comments yesterday as he met with elections observers from the US-based Carter Centre and as bogus SMS text messages were circulating claiming a change in some polling states. The Guyana Elections Commissions has warned voters to ignore those messages.
A total of 150 observers are in Georgetown for the polls in which 492,000 eligible Guyanese are voting to elect members for the 65-seat National Assembly which is being contested by 11 political parties. The three top parties likely to capture major slices of the vote are: the incumbent People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), the main Opposition People's National Congress Reform (PNCR) and the Alliance for Change (AFC).
Polls in the past weeks all agree that the ruling PPP/C would be returned but with a reduced majority in Parliament. Polls have also indicated that President Jagdeo had slipped into the number two position as the favourite runner for president, with voters preferring CN Sharma, leader of the small Justice for All Party (JFAP), as the preferred candidate to hold the presidency.
Jagdeo has dismissed suggestions of an electoral defeat either for himself or his party, he said that Guyanese will vote on the basis of his track record. Still, voters are warying of the crime and violence which have gripped the CARICOM South American nation and the slow pace at which the law enforcement agencies make breakthroughs in solving the crimes. Allegations of corruption have raised its head in many quarters leaving the voter wary.
The multi-racial new comer AFC, financed by the Guyanese Diaspora, is boasting that it can bridge the racial divide and do a better job at tackling the social scourages. However, though it has gained some ground in recent weeks there is still no clear indication in this country, which has historically voted along racial lines, that the trend is about to end any time soon.
A poll late last month for the Stabroek News found the PPP/C to be leading with 42 percent, while the PNC had 29 percent and the new AFC 13 percent.
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