– as house-to-house registration continues
-commissioners to submit proposals based on High Court ruling today

APPROXIMATELY 297,126 persons have been registered to date in the House-to-House Registration exercise, according to the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Warde.

The national registration exercise continues as the Elections Commission determines its next step, even as the country awaits the conduct of General and Regional Elections.
Today, the Chairman of the Elections Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh is expected to meet and receive proposals from the Commissioners on the way forward, based on a High Court ruling handed down by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire on House-to-House Registration and Elections.

In the August 14 High Court judgment, the acting Chief Justice ruled that the ongoing house-to-house registration, being undertaken by GECOM, is within the confines of the Constitution, and is therefore legal.

Justice George-Wiltshire ruled that the Constitution and the Laws of Guyana provide for the conduct of house-to-house registration as a form of verification – a position that was argued by both the Government and GECOM.

However, while validating the ongoing House-to-House Registration exercise, the acting Chief Justice ruled that it would be unlawful or unconstitutional to remove the names of persons who are already on the List of Registrants and who were not, or have not been, or are not registered in the current exercise with a consequence of non-inclusion on the list of electors.

Justice George-Wiltshire had explained that persons could only be removed from the list if they are deceased or disqualified pursuant to Article 159. In that judgment, she also ruled that residency, in the case of Guyanese, was not a requirement under the laws.

Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, however, is arguing that the acting Chief Justice erred when she ruled that it would be unconstitutional to remove persons from the National Register of Registrants if they fail to register during this cycle of House-to-House Registration. He laid out 16 grounds as he appealed, in part, judgment on house-to-house registration. A date for that case has not been set.

Even as the Attorney General seeks to overturn the ruling of the High Court, in part, the Elections Commissioners are expected to make proposals based on the ruling of the High Court. These proposals are expected to influence how the Commission will treat with the ongoing registration, and the pending elections.

At the end of the last meeting, Government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander had explained that the Commissioners were expected to analyze the National Registration Act in conjunction with the High Court ruling.

“So that we are concomitantly looking at 159, its proviso and the National Registration Act and what it provides for… the sticky point is that we don’t have consensus,” he empathised.
When asked about his hope on getting consensus, Alexander expressed caution about discussing anything in details pertaining to the ongoing forum.

“I am cautious about the context, about the ongoing discussions, not to engage the public. In our political environment I think we need to use an approach that allows for internal discussions and not to have the politicians be rancored by what we have to say if it would influence what may happen internally, so yes we have propositions, but I prefer at this time not to be the one to put it out in the public,” Alexander said, noting that the little he had stated previously caused a bitter reaction from the opposition leader. He said the public should have information on something definitive and internal aspects of discussions should be left inside the meetings.