PROPONENTS of house-to-house registration before elections, are contending that the exercise is the sole means through which the National Register of Registrants (NRR) can be created.

According to legal sources weighing-in on the discussion in Guyana and referencing the National Registration (Amendment) Act 2007, house-to-house registration is the only exercise named in the Act for the generation of a NRR.

While members of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Opposition are contending that house-to-house registration is “not catered for under law”, legal minds disagree.

“In the original 1967 Act, house-to-house registration was referenced in Section 6 (4), and it continued to be there until Act No. 14 of 2005 amended it and removed reference to house-to-house registration,” they say. “Act No. 31 of 2007 amended the National Registration Act to provide for it again under Section 4. The amendment provides that in obtaining the registration of eligible persons, house-to-house visits within the divisions shall be done as far as practicable,” one legal source stated.

Indeed, an excerpt from Section 6 (b) of the Act states: “Every registration officer shall, either by himself for an authorised officer, by house-to-house visits within the registration division or sub-division assigned to him, obtain, as far as practicable, the application for registration of every person who is, on the appointed date, of the age of fourteen years or above for the purpose of ascertaining every person qualified for registration to have his name included in the National Register of Registrants.”

The legal minds argue that house-to-house registration is the only form of registration method referenced within the Act, and is therefore the only means by which the NRR can be generated.

The last nationwide house-to-house registration exercise was conducted in 2011.
While the Opposition is against the conduct of house-to-house registration, and is in favour of a refreshed list through Claims and Objection and “continuous registration”, legal sources say that house-to-house registration equates to the latter.

They asserted: “Continuous registration is just that, being a continuous process and in conducting this continuous process, house-to-house visits is to be used.”