Shaping the future of communities: LGE 2023 gets underway

The 2023 Local Government Elections (LGE) got underway early Monday morning, as eligible Guyanese went out to polling stations across the country and exercised their franchise.   

President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, First Lady Arya Ali, Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo and ministers of the government have already cast their ballots at the respective polling places.

LGEs are held at the local level to elect representatives who will govern and make decisions on behalf of specific communities. These representatives, called councillors, are responsible for addressing the needs and concerns of residents, delivering essential services, and promoting development.

This process provides an opportunity for citizens to have greater autonomy in decision-making and resource allocation, foster a sense of community ownership, and help to boost service delivery at the local level.

Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioner, Sase Gunraj commented on the progress thus far:

“We have been observing the process since early this morning, from the movement of ballot boxes…from the staging areas to the individual polling stations. I’ve also observed the setting up of several polling stations and…the setup was pretty smooth. No complaints in relation to the availability of supplies, both sensitive and non-sensitive material. All of the poll workers are in place,” he stated.

Commissioner Gunraj noted that while inclement weather necessitated the move of a polling station, persons were quickly alerted of the change. He urged Guyanese to come out and vote.

“Exercise your franchise. These are long-awaited elections. As you know… we’ve had delays in getting this day actually going. And now that we are actually here, I want to encourage everyone to make use of this day, come out early and exercise their franchise so that we can have a successful election,” he stressed.