GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- Amid charges of fraud, Guyanese voted Monday in an election that was expected to return socialist President Forbes Burnham to another five-year term. The head of a British observer team was detained briefly by police.
There were no reports of violence, but at several polling stations in the capital of Georgetown groups of up to several dozen voters, most of them of East Indian descent, shouted angrily they had been illegally struck from the voting rolls.
No election results were expected until Tuesday.
Burnham had predicted between 80 and 90 percent of the voters would cast their ballots, and the relatively low turnout, estimated unofficially at 70 percent, was widely interpreted as disenchantment with his iron grip on the South American country and a lack of faith in the fairness of the balloting.
In addition, the outlawed Working People's Alliance, whose leader, Walter Rodney, died in a bomb explosion June 13, had asked voters to boycott the election.
Lord Eric Avebury, who headed a team of nine observers sent by the British Parliament to verify whether the election was conducted fairly, was arrested two hours after he allegedly violated Guyana's electoral law by taking photos within 200 yards of a polling place.
Hammond called the arrest 'police harassment' but added, 'I think it is the work of individual policemen rather than' government orders.
Asked repeatedly at a press conference Monday night whether he had found the voting fair, Avebury, who was denied observer status by Burnham, said he would give his opinion Tuesday after conferring with the other members of the team.
Burnham's ruling Peoples National Congress party was expected to win a majority of the 65 seats in the House of Assembly, giving Burnham, in office since 1966, another five-year term.
His party held 37 seats in the outgoing assembly to 14 for the opposition People's Progressive Party, headed by Cheddi Jagan.
The election was held amid widespread charges of fraud. Burham's party was also accused of rigging the last election, in 1973, that gave Burnham 70 percent of the vote.
A British observer team, which was denied observer status, was criticized in the government newspaper The Chronicle as being biased against the government.
Lord Eric Avery, head of the team, denied they 'pre-judged the election' and vowed to carefully monitor polling across the South American country.
The election is the first under a new constitution that gives the president power to dismiss the supreme court and the head of the opposition at will.
Gerrymandering of Guayana's electoral districts insured that Indians, who support Jagan, got the least number of seats possible, even though they make up nearly half the population.
A former British colony, Guayana's population of 825,000 is roughly divided between blacks, who control the government and support Burnham, and East Indians, active in commerce. The East Indians prefer Jagan, who is also East Indian.
Jagan won a landslide election in 1952 but was overthrown 133 days later in a British and U.S.-engineered coup.
A smattering of whites, native Indians, Chinese and Javanese prevent either dominant racial group from forming a majority.
