THOUSANDS have taken advantage of the Claims subset of the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) Claims and Objections period.And the Commission’s Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DECO), Vishnu Persaud, told the Guyana Chronicle that some 6,345 persons conducted transfers, due to issues related to change of address, etc., while another 3,900 used the process to become new registrants.
He disclosed too that there were 1,646 changes and corrections to existing registration information, and 1,667 replacements of identification cards requested, 627 retakes of photographs.
The Objections period is currently ongoing and ends on Sunday.
The Claims and Objections period is the next step after a continuous cycle of registration, the last one being the Seventh Cycle of Continuous Registration.
Some 6,003 persons took advantage of the Seventh Cycle of Registration, which ended on December 31, 2014. There were also 1,163 changes and corrections to existing registration information that was done during the Seventh Cycle of Continuous Registration, as well as 1,248 transfers.
Prior to the start of the Claims and Objections period, the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) was published to allow for review by eligible voters.
The PLE’s publication, as well as several other operational undertakings, had to be completed before a date for the Claims and Objections period was named.
The Claims and Objections period is necessary to finalise the Official List of Electors (OLE), which will facilitate voting on Elections Day
Additionally, GECOM has indicated that the Revised List of Electors (RLE), following the end of the ongoing Claims and Objections period, could possibly be completed by March 16, while the OLE likely to be published by April 13.

(Vanessa Narine)