Dear Editor,
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is currently running off the Claims and Objections exercise across the country, following a recent robust and well-scrutinised Continuous Registration Cycle. The responses so far have been slow, but the process for both activities involved the purposeful keenness of party verification scrutineers from various divides. This approach supports an acceptable level of transparency, and lends to the success of establishing a final representative Voters’ List for the holding of Local Government Elections as early as possible.
GECOM must be complimented for facilitating the recent very successful process of Continuous Registration, which realised over 70,000 transactions, thereby producing a very good Register of Registrants.
Concerning the latter, the GECOM Public Relations Officer reported that 28,149 were new registrants between the ages of 14 and 17, while 21,130 were new registrants above the age of 18. Also, 4,629 persons applied for transfers; 6,526 persons changed or corrected their information; 7,667 applied for replacement identification cards, and 1,940 registrants retook their ID photos.
It is rational for one to accept that the slow pace of transactions during this Claims and Objection Exercise is strongly linked to the thorough work that was done during the former Cycle.
In keeping with customary practice, the GECOM-led Claims and Objections exercise which commenced on August 22 will allow qualifying parties further update opportunities to the final List. It is aimed at providing all stakeholders the opportunity to object to the names of any deceased persons that may remain on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE), from which the Official List of Electors (OLE) is gleaned. According to reports, approximately one thousand new registrations of persons eighteen years and older, along with five hundred transfers and one hundred retaken photographs, were completed.
All political stakeholders are in this process, and it will be interesting if there are any unreasonable complaints at the end of the exercise.
It is public knowledge that PNCR and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton led the cries about the list being bloated based on the inclusion of dead persons, and the current exercise presents the opportunity for them to ensure the appropriate screening at this time. Many of their questions will be answered at the end of this exercise, which allows the naysayers to object to the names on the List that should be removed. Based on the list put up by GECOM around the country, it is observed that the names of many persons who died are already removed, presumably due to the coordination between the General Registration Office and GECOM.
Further, it is interesting that the total transactions have not been raised by the Norton clan as matters of concern. Notwithstanding the beginning of the Exercise was smooth, and it is now very slow, with the closing date coming up, there may be a little more response. However, the nation is looking to see if the PNC would come up with some other ‘big-blocking objections at the last moment. Guyanese are weary of the usual ridiculous claims that the PNC is famous for making.
It is of note that the Norton-led cabal attempts to convey that the House-to-House approach would be a panacea to their claims regarding the current list. It is also widely known that the approach hypocritically targets the removal of the names of thousands of overseas or otherwise engaged Guyanese, who may not find it convenient to be at their last noted address at the time of a possible House-to-House visit.
They do so contrary to the ruling of the High Court, for want of convenience and excuses, also knowing that their representatives are in the polling station on polling day to identify any so-called “Dead Voters”. Of significant interest, it is the representatives of the same PNCR and APNU who run the diaspora before each election, to request qualifying Guyanese to return to vote and make donations.
Editor, permit me to remind our qualifying citizens that when making Claims and Objections, they must have the relevant source documents. Original birth certificate or a valid passport in the case of new registration. Original Naturalisation Certificate issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and original birth certificate or a valid passport in the case of naturalisation. The original marriage certificate and original birth certificate should be presented in the case of a request for a name change by marriage.
Further, it must be noted that citizens must present to the officials at the GECOM Registration Office original deed poll and original birth certificate in the case of a name change by deed poll.
It is important for anyone making an objection to any name on the OLE to be accredited by the scrutineers or by an elector who is listed in the same Division List as the person he or she is objecting to.
Citizens must also be aware that they can and must use this exercise to make sure that their ID cards are appropriate. The GECOM official would also conduct updates concerning corrections of the wrong spelling of one’s name, wrong date of birth, and defaced pictures. Further, lost ID Cards could be replaced by the citizens, who make an application for this using the statutory form from the GECOM office, after it is signed by a Commissioner of Oaths.
GECOM must be complimented for their genuine effort to produce the best possible List of Electors in preparation for the overdue LGEs.
Sincerely,
Neil Kumar
