– ID cards not necessary for voting once voter’s name is on the OLE, Surujbally
ALL  national identification cards issued before October 2009 will be decommissioned, effective November 1st, according to Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally.
He told reporters yesterday that all ID cards issued before the said date will not be valid for voting at the upcoming general and regional elections, particularly since they bear no relationship to the Official List of Electors (OLE).
However, Surujbally made it clear that the identification cards are not an absolute necessity for voting once the voter’s name is on the OLE.

CONTINUED DISTRIBUTION

The GECOM Chairman noted that the new ID cards will continue to be distributed from the respective GECOM permanent offices up to three days before Election Day.
“This includes the distribution of ID cards produced since October 2009 and includes both phases of the recent Claims and Objections exercise for the upcoming elections,” he said.
The GECOM Chairman contends that persons voted without identification cards in 2001 and 2006 and stressed that no one will be disenfranchised of their right to vote.
He maintains that, as a Guyanese citizen, a national identification card is an important document and there are many uses for which they are quintessential.
Surujbally disclosed that a total of 34,527 identification cards are still not uplifted. (Vanessa Narine)