GECOM records over 4,500 transactions during claims & objections

…almost 1600 new persons apply to be registered on voters list

Monday marked the end of the claims period of the second cycle of the 2024 Claims and Objections timeline, with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) recording over 4,500 total transactions between July 2 and July 15, 2024.
General and Regional elections are expected next year and GECOM is in preparatory mode for the upcoming polls. Starting July 2, 2024 GECOM had been conducting Claims and Objections, which gave electors a chance to make claims to be included on the voters list, among other transactions.

While the objections period of the exercise is expected to be concluded on July 22, 2024, the claims portion concluded on July 15. In an interview with this publication, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward provided a breakdown of the 4,593 transactions the agency recorded during that period.
“The breakdown of these numbers is particularly for the claims and objections period, for the various transactions. And so, for new registration, we have a total of 1,599. These are new registrations. Persons who have never been registered. And they’re making a claim to entry unto the Official List of Electors.”
“For transfers, we had 885. Changes or corrections, 597. For replacement ID cards, 1,179. And for persons who requested photo retakes, 336. Which gives us a total of 4,593 transactions during the claims period,” Ward further explained.
Meanwhile, Ward does not anticipate that the claims period would be extended. She pointed out that due to the cycles of continuous registration, eligible persons are given many opportunities to be included on the official list of electors.
“While it’s a decision of the commission to determine whether that period can be extended, I want to remind that we still have continuous registration that is ongoing. So even while the claims is running, simultaneously we’re also running continuous registration. Which is in keeping with what the law mandates we should do. Because on the continuous aspect, it caters for persons 14 years old,” she explained.
Claims and Objection exercises are aimed at forming a Preliminary List of Electors (PLE), thence an Official List of Electors (OLE). Accordingly, the PLEs have been posted at prominent locations across the country. GECOM previously conducted Claims and Objections from January 2 to 29, 2024.
GECOM had explained at the time that persons who had attained the age of 18 years and older as of December 31, 2023 and are Guyanese citizens by birth, descent or naturalisation or “is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more,” met the criteria to be included in the OLE and eventually vote in the expected 2025 elections.
When it comes to claims, persons can make a claim to be included in the OLE if their name is not on the list, or can apply for a transfer from an address they no longer live at. Additionally, they can apply for a change of name or for a correction, if incorrect information is on the PLE.
During last year’s Claims and Objections period, which captured persons who would have been eligible to vote by October 31, 2022, GECOM had recorded more than 3000 new applicants, as well as a total of 18 objections to names on the PLE.
The government has already indicated that the next General and Regional Elections will be within the period of October to November 2025. Recently, the government, opposition parties and other stakeholders met with the Carter Center’s pre-assessment team and other Elections Observer missions invited to be a part of the next elections process.
Guyana’s previous election process lasted from March 2 to August 2, 2020 – a period of five months – due to efforts by the now Opposition parties, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition to remain in Government.
Litigations, missing Statements of Poll (SOPs) and missing documents from some ballot boxes were among strategies used to derail the declaration of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) as the new Government.
The government has announced that a manual will be prepared and circulated ahead of the elections to the media, political parties and other interested stakeholders, outlining the “duties, obligations, responsibilities, rights of every member who will be part of the conduct of elections.” This includes members of GECOM and by extension, polling agents.
In this regard, the manual will also outline documents to be included in the ballot boxes for submission to the offices of the District Returning Offices. (G3)