THE seventh cycle of continuous registration ended on December 31, 2014, and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is currently engaged in a fingerprint cross- matching exercise, which is part of its process to verify the information of new registrants – who after verification will form part of the National Register of Registrants (NRR).The seventh cycle of continuous registration commenced on November 30th, 2014, and allowed persons the opportunity to register for the first time, conduct transfers and make changes to their registration details.

The numbers released to the Guyana Chronicle indicated that new registrations number 6,003 persons, while there were also 1,163 changes and corrections to existing registration information and 1,248 transfers due to issues related to change of addresses, etc.
According to GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Richard Francois, the fingerprint cros- matching exercise will also extend to existing persons listed on the NRR.
“Currently, the GECOM Secretariat is conducting a thorough fingerprint cross- matching exercise as it analyzes the fingerprints of registrants on both the existing National Register of Registrants as well as applicants for new registration and new databases to eliminate any/guard against multiple registrations,” he said, in a statement.
GECOM’s PRO added that this exercise is part of a number of “crucial administrative” efforts that are necessary for the publication of the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE).
Francois explained that once this exercise has been completed, GECOM will be ready to conduct the Claims and Objections exercise, during which the PLE will be scrutinised.
“GECOM takes the opportunity to urge all persons who will be eligible to vote at the upcoming elections to check the extracts of the PLE that will be displayed in their respective communities of residence to ensure that their details are accurate and to apply for registration/change/corrections/transfers during the Claims and Objections exercise as might be necessary,” GECOM’s PRO said.
At the end of the Claims and Objections period, an Official List of Electors is expected to be produced, which will be used for the upcoming general and regional elections.