THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will on Monday commence an exercise to facilitate registration of persons who do not reside in any of Guyana’s nine municipalities and 62 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs). This registration exercise will end on December 6.

Persons who live in non-local authority areas would be able to apply for registration, the commission says, but such persons must be at least 18 years old by February 29, 2016, and must be Guyanese citizens by birth, descent, or naturalisation; or be citizens from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more.

Accordingly, any person who would be eligible to register during this exercise can apply for registration, or apply for a change of name if he/she has changed his/her name since he/she was registered; or apply for a correction if his/her information on his/her National Identification Card is incorrect; or apply for a transfer if he/she has changed his/her address since he/she was registered.

GECOM in a statement, said persons must be in possession of the relevant source documents as may be necessary to conduct any of the above transactions. These documents are original birth certificate or a valid Guyana passport for persons applying for registration; original birth certificate/valid passport and the birth certificate of one parent in the case of application for registration by persons who are Guyanese by descent; original naturalisation certificate issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and original birth certificate/valid passport in the case of persons seeking to become registered by virtue of having acquired Guyanese citizenship via naturalisation; original marriage certificate (and original birth certificate) in the case of a name change by marriage.

Married women in possession of valid Guyana passports with their husbands’ surnames do not need to provide marriage certificates. Other documents needed are: original deed poll and original birth certificate in the case of a name changed by deed poll; and original birth certificate/valid passport/marriage certificate/deed poll/naturalisation certificate, as may be necessary to substantiate claims for corrections.

Baptismal certificates; expired passports; photocopies of relevant documents; or letters from priests, elders, headmasters, village captains/toshaos and justices of the peace, and existing ID Cards will not be acceptable as source documents for registration.

Anyone desirous of conducting any of the above transactions is required to visit the GECOM permanent registration office that is responsible for his/her area of residence.

All GECOM permanent registration offices will be open on Mondays to Fridays from 09:00 hrs to 13:00 hrs, and 14:00 hrs to 18:00 hrs; and on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10:00 hrs to 14:00 hrs.