The current 7th Cycle of Continuous Registration will end on Wednesday December 31, a press release from the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) has said.
This decision was made during the 436th Statutory Meeting of the Commission, which was held on December 9.
Anyone who will be 14 years or older by March 31, 2015, and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, naturalization, or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living continuously in Guyana for one year or more, is eligible for registration. Gecom is asking that persons make a special effort to get registered before December 31, so as to be part of the new National Register of Registrants (NRR).
As of December 17, 4,277 registration transactions were completed with 3,116 being new registrants. Of the new registrants, 1,457 are persons 18 years and above while 1,659 are registrants 14 to 18 years of age. The number of registrants seeking changes to the information on their ID Cards so far amount to 611, while those requesting transfers equal 550. The percentage of verification currently stands at 95.8 per cent, the release said.
Gecom registration offices are open Monday to Friday 09:00hrs to 13:00hrs and 14:30hrs to 18:00hrs and on Saturdays from 10:00hrs to 14:00hrs. Persons are advised to use these periods in the remaining days of the year to register or collect ID cards.
The 7th Cycle of Continuous Registration started on December 1 and it followed the 6th Cycle which was held in March this year. At the time it was announced in late November the main opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had denounced it as a tactic by the ruling PPP/C to delay general elections.
It came in the midst of the prorogation of Parliament by President Donald Ramotar to avoid his government facing a motion of no confidence, which opposition party the Alliance For Change (AFC) had signalled it would move.
Having failed to hold talks with the opposition, which has insisted it will not do so outside of Parliament, President Ramotar has since indicated that he will announce a date for new elections next year.
