GECOM is in the process of finalising and printing the Revised List of Electors (RLE) resulting from the recently concluded Claims and Objections exercise, for public scrutiny.
In a press release the Guyana Elections Commis-sion (GECOM) said on completion of the RLE it will be posted at two conspicuous locations within each electoral division/sub-division for public scrutiny. It noted too that electronic copies of the RLE will be given to political parties.
GECOM said during both phases of the Claims and Objections exercises for the imminent General and Regional Elections it “established the occurrence of multiple registrations. This was determined through the electronic cross matching of the fingerprints of every new applicant for registration against the fingerprints of existing registrants who are listed in the National Register of Registrants (NRR).”
The GECOM Secretariat said it investigated every case of multiple registration and found that some cases were unintentional while others were found to have been committed deliberately. Accord-ingly, the agency would apply the methodology for treating with multiple registrations towards ensuring that no person is listed more than once in the NRR. Also, the cases of deliberate multiple registrations will be handed over to the Guyana Police Force for investigation and possible prosecution. GECOM also said the names and addresses of persons involved will be published in the print media.
Questionable
source documents
According to GECOM a significant number of cases of multiple registrations involv-ed one person registering twice, at the same or different venues, using two birth certificates with different information.
“The use of two Birth Certificates with different information for registration has consequences that impact on the integrity of GECOM’s National Register of Regis-trants, as does the registration of a person with a passport which was issued on the basis of the provision of a questionable Birth Certificate,” the release said.
In order to address this problem GECOM has written Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee requesting that he convenes a meeting with representatives from the relevant departments of his ministry, GECOM Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally and other senior GECOM representatives. The agency has also undertaken to present exemplars for all categories relative to glaring cases of inconsistencies regarding source documents.
Accreditation of
local observers
GECOM has accredited the members of the Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) as local observers. Prior to this, Dr Surujbally met with Fr Malcolm Rodriguez and EAB Project Director Abbas Mancey to ensure compliance with the protocols enshrined in the Terms of Reference for Local/Domestic Observers. Further, the chairman had stressed the need for the EAB to collaborate closely with Chief Election Officer Gocool Boodoo regarding the testing of the Voters List and the accreditation of local observers; consult with the Commission before making pronouncements on any matter relevant to the preparations for and conduct of the elections.
GECOM has also written the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) to inform them that the time is now opportune to meet with GECOM formally to start the process that would culminate with it being accredited. The GPSU had written the Commission indicating its interest in being accredited as a local observer for the General and Regional Elections.
