GECOM reverses order forcing voters to verify registration

…over 600,000 persons on Preliminary List of Voters

After an avalanche of criticism came its way, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Monday reversed its new criteria for all registered voters to visit offices during the upcoming Claims and Objections period to verify their registration.

The announcement was made by GECOM’s Opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj, via social media. According to Gunraj, no registered person is required to visit any registration office to confirm their registration.
“I just received a copy of a ‘corrected’ order from the Chief Elections Officer regarding the upcoming Claims and Objections exercise. I am happy to report that the imposition of the requirement for persons already registered to visit registration offices has been removed,” Gunraj announced Monday afternoon.
“As it is, no registered person is required to visit any registration office to confirm their registration. As it relates to the increase in the period earmarked for Claims and Objections…this has been partially changed. This will hopefully be fixed in due course, as it does not reflect a Commission decision.”

GECOM’s reversal of the much-criticised order came just hours after Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who is vying for the prime ministerial candidacy of the coalition, claimed he saw “nothing wrong” with the offending order. At the time, Ramjattan was being interviewed on the sidelines of an event.
“GECOM has at its head a very senior judicial luminary in Claudette Singh. And a lot of people are saying (the order) should not have been done, it is subverting certain judicial decisions and so on. I do not think so at all. It is verification,” Ramjattan, a lawyer by profession, who apparently is not au fait with the law, said.
A perusal of the new order itself shows that it retained the sections stating it was applicable to all persons who attained the age of 18 and those who appeared on the register and wished to make changes to their details. However, the provision making it mandatory for voters to visit GECOM offices in their areas was removed.
In a gazetted order dated September 26 and subsequent press release, GECOM had informed that every person whose name appeared on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) must visit the registration office in their respective area with an Identification (ID) card for verification.
It claimed that this step is necessary to be included on the Official List of Electors (OLE). This means that every citizen desirous of voting must participate in this exercise, even though their names may already be on the voters’ list.
According to the law, a Claims and Objections period is only for persons seeking to make a claim to be included on the list or make objections to their voter’s information, such as to change their address.
However, the release read, “During this exercise, every person whose name appear on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) must visit the Registration office in their respective area with their National Identification Card to verify their registration record in order to be included in the Official List of Electors (OLE).”
Soon after the appearance of the order, Opposition-nominated Commissioners called an emergency press conference on Friday, where they slammed this imposition, noting that it was never discussed during their meetings. According to Commissioner Gunraj, this ‘hogwash’ attempt was another version of House-to-House Registration.
“This was never a decision taken by the Commission, either in whole or in part. In fact, it was not even a discussion that was had at the Commission-level. This can only be seen as an attempt to foist another version of House-to-House Registration on the citizens of this country … I would want to label it, and I am being very charitable when I say this – mischievous at best. But it is not surprising,” he pointed out.
GECOM had also announced that the countrywide exercise will be conducted at all Registration Offices countrywide and will conclude on November 18. However, persons have until November 11 to make a claim to be included on the list if they are a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, naturalisation or registration, 18 years or older or will attain the age of 18 by December 31, 2019.