Under new electoral reforms: Chief Registration Officer could face sanctions for not removing dead people from voters’ list

Under the proposed electoral reform changes that are ongoing, the Chief Registration Officer could face sanctions for failing to ensure the periodic removal of dead people from the Official List of Electors (OLE).

This was revealed by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, on Tuesday during an interview with the media. Asked if this was not always the case, Nandlall noted that it had previously not been clear enough and was not being done at one point. Now, however, he said that the Government is making it an obligation and a criminal offence not to comply with law.
“We’re going to strengthen the law by the electoral statutory reforms that are coming. We have a constitutional reform process that will come shortly. It is a publicly driven process. Once the public consultation produces suggestions and recommendations to alter any part of the Constitution, that will be addressed.”
“In the reforms that are coming, the statutory reforms, it is a mandatory duty now on the Chief Registration Officer to ensure that dead people are removed from the list at periodic intervals,” he said.
On the matter of constitutional reform and a clean voters’ list, Nandlall noted that this is currently a work in progress and there is a constitutional reform bill currently in Parliament… which he emphasised the Opposition will be expected to make an input on. As for Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton’s oft repeated calls for a clean voters’ list, the Attorney General detailed the statutory process currently being employed to clean the list.
“We are committed to constitutional reform. A Constitutional Reform Bill is before the Parliament. That Bill creates or seeks to create, a constitutional reform commission which is broad based, 50 per cent parliamentary politicians and 50 per cent civil society. The Opposition has a role to play in that commission and most naturally, will have a role to play in the constitutional reform process. So, they will have their say at the appropriate time.”
“We have spoken a million times on what is required to clean the list. A list of electors is constructed by a legal process. Firstly, persons are registered to be put on a national registration database and it is from that database that a list of electors is derived.”
According to Nandlall, the qualifications to be an elector are listed in the Constitution. Additionally, the National Registration Act provides for how the database can be cleansed. He noted that it is a statutory and legal process.
“For example, dead people are to be removed from the database. That is in the law. Any attempt to cleanse the list, outside of those legal parameters, would be unlawful and unconstitutional. And that is our position at this point in time.”
Currently, there’s an ongoing Claims and Objections exercise that will run until mid-September and is being done at all GECOM registration offices across the country. Eligible persons can make a claim to be included in the OLE.
On the other hand, persons can also make objections against the inclusion of names in the preliminary list, for reasons such as if the person is dead. All they are required to do is present the necessary documents to verify that the person is dead.
The parliamentary A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition has been arguing that the current voters’ list is bloated, with, among other things, the names of dead persons, and needs to be cleansed.
However, GECOM Chairman, Retired Justice Claudette Singh had posited that the list is not bloated. In fact, she had said in a recent interview with the media that, even if it were bloated, this process would allow for objections to those persons who should not be on the said list.
“Everyone on the list, the people were there. They weren’t bloated. They were legally there on the list. And if the list is bloated, well we’re moving now to Claims and Objections. People will have a chance to object to who shouldn’t be there,” the Chairperson said.
GECOM subsequently released a statement in which they announced that Claims and Objections would start on August 22, 2022. This will be done at all GECOM permanent registration offices and will allow persons turning 18 years and over by October 31, 2022, to make a claim to be included in the voters’ list.
On the other hand, persons can also make objections against the inclusion of names in the preliminary list, for reasons such as if the person is dead. The claims section of the exercise will last until September 11, while objections will close on September 15.

Small picketing exercise
Meanwhile, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was forced to set up barricades around GECOM on Tuesday, as members of the Opposition called for protest. About five persons turned up and picketed for what they called a ‘clean voters’ list’. This is despite the ongoing Claims and Objections exercise where no one made any objections. (G3)