– Luncheon
CONCERNS continue to be expressed, by stakeholders, about uncollected identification (ID) cards and unregistered voters associated with the unavailability of source documents. Reporting on these concerns yesterday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) Dr. Roger Luncheon told his weekly media briefing that those issues were raised when Cabinet continued its review of the electoral preparations by Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and are “plaguing the entire exercise.”
“The closure of the Claims and Objections period and the practically simultaneous announcement of unanimity, at the level of GECOM Commissioners about their acceptance of the status quo, did not go unnoticed by Cabinet,” he stated.
Luncheon said the finalisation of the list that would include information from the Claims and Objections period is expected and urgently awaited by Cabinet.
GECOM Chairman  Dr. Steve Surujbally had announced, at a news conference last week, that  the Commission, based on its current plans and barring the emergency of any unforeseeable impediment, will be ready for general elections by mid-October.
The Commission has developed a strategic public awareness campaign for the entire electoral process for the upcoming elections and it involves providing relevant information through all available media, including at grassroots level and through civic, religious and cultural organisations about the exercise, he had assured.

He had also indicated that, as of last Wednesday, and as the time for  elections draws near, there are some 43,187 identification (ID) cards still to be collected.
He stressed that these are not voting cards and pointed out that the constitutional requirement to vote is to be registered, not necessarily to be in possession of an identification card.

He added that the decommissioning of the old identification cards (the red and green cards produced before 2010) will be done soon, although he could not give an exact date.
What he did say was that the matter is engaging the attention of the commission and will be done, since it is not correct to have three identification cards “floating around” at any one time.

“GECOM will decommission all ID cards (red and green) that were issued prior to the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise.  The decommissioning of the ‘red’ and ‘green’ ID Cards means that these cards will no longer be valid. This will mean that those persons who have not uplifted their ID cards, and those who are not now registered, would be without a valid means of identification,” the GECOM Chairman declared.