GECOM to kick-start Continuous Registration on March 7

– former CCJ Judicial Counsel appointed as GECOM Legal Officer

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has settled on March 7, 2022, to kick off Continuous Registration, a necessary process for updating the List of Electors and paving the way for the holding of Local Government Elections (LGE).
GECOM made the announcement on Tuesday, noting that the cycle of Continuous Registration will start on March 7 at all of GECOM’s Permanent Offices across the country. GECOM has 28 permanent Registration Offices located in all of the ten administrative regions.

Last week, this publication had reported that GECOM had issued instructions to Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud, to commence preparations for Continuous Registration, an important step towards the holding of LGE.
It is also understood that GECOM is looking to have an updated voters’ list in place by October, in order for the LGE to be held. The last time GECOM conducted Continuous Registration was in 2019, in preparation for the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Over $750 million has been set aside in Budget 2022 for the preparations to be undertaken by GECOM for the hosting of LGE this year. This money is part of an overall $4.1 billion allocation to GECOM in Budget 2022 and was examined and approved by the National Assembly during its consideration of the 2022 Budget Estimates.
Included in the $783 million for LGE is an over-$300 million increase in “other goods and services purchased”, which jumped from $250.8 million in 2021 to $575.9 million in the 2022 budget.
LGE are constitutionally due every two years in Guyana, and were last held in 2018. However, given the fiasco that played out following the 2020 General and Regional Elections, the Local Government polls were deferred to 2021.
At the last LGE in November 2018, the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Opposition had secured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This followed the holding of the LGE in 2016, during which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs.

Legal Officer
GECOM has also made progress when it comes to filling the important vacancy of Legal Officer. At its statutory meeting on Tuesday, it was decided that Attorney-at-Law Kurt Anthony Da Silva would be appointed as the Legal Officer.
According to GECOM in a statement, Da Silva holds a Master of Laws Degree in Public Law from the University of the West Indies (UWI). After being called to the Guyana Bar, he served as the Judicial Research Assistant for acting Chief Justice Roxane George and other High Court Judges from 2017 to 2019.
“He then moved onto the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in 2019 where he currently serves the President and Judges at the CCJ as a Judicial Counsel,” GECOM explained in its statement on Da Silva’s appointment.
“In this regard, based on his experience in both the Caribbean Court of Justice and Guyana’s High Court of researching legal issues, analysing submissions in cases from attorneys-at-law, writing legal opinions for Judges and his knowledge of the new rules of procedure and the electoral laws, the Commission appointed Mr Da Silva as the Legal Officer.”
Prior to Da Silva’s appointment, Attorney-at-Law Excellence Dazzell served as GECOM’s Legal Officer. It was announced in June 2021 that she, along with then Chief Accountant Joseph Eastman, had resigned over contractual issues. GECOM is presently advertising for a new Chief Accountant.