WITH the Guyana Elections Commission set to embark on house-to-house registration, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, is encouraging Guyanese living overseas to return during the period of registration, since they are not catered for outside of the country’s terrain.

Harmon made this announcement at his post-cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of Presidency on Friday, in response to a question asked. “House-to-house registration means that when the enumerators from the Guyana Elections Commission go to your house, that you should be there. And therefore if you reside overseas and you are not here at the time when the enumerators go to your house, then you cannot be considered to be on the list of the names of the electors,” Harmon said.

He also noted, that it is not a matter of disenfranchising anyone, but rather, the laws of Guyana do not provide for oversees voting, with the exception of persons who are in the employ of the State and are in the embassies and other agencies abroad. “So persons who are Guyanese, residing abroad at the time of house-to-house registration, certainly your names will not be on the list,” Harmon emphasised.

The commission itself would continuously stress the essentiality of these registrations on their sites and public relations platforms. House-to-house registration essentially entails the registration of persons by house-to- house visits.

In relation to funding for elections, Minister Harmon explained that it is a matter that has to be dealt with, first by GECOM, before the government has a say. “The Guyana Elections Commission has to indicate to the government that this is what they require. When that is done, it goes to the Ministry of Finance and they justify their figures with the Minister of Finance. It is then taken to Cabinet for approval to be taken to the National Assembly. So these are the various steps along the way, and it’s not just us to say okay, give GECOM x amount. It’s a process that has to be gone through,” Harmon expounded.

President David Granger, on Wednesday, told the media that the government will ensure the funds are available to GECOM for the preparations of General and Regional Elections.
A November, 2019 timeframe was given by GECOM to prepare the country for elections. However, with the Appellate Court’s ruling that the no-confidence motion was invalidly passed, at this stage, government is not mandated to hold early elections this year.

However, President Granger said “…regardless of what happened at the Supreme Court, regardless of what happened at the Court of Appeal, regardless of what’s happening at the CCJ, we are going to ensure that we satisfy GECOM’s requests.”