…as GECOM wraps up H2H registration

CLOSE to 400,000 persons have been registered as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), on Saturday, wrapped up its house-to-house registration exercise.
The Guyana Chronicle was told that a number of persons were registered in the final week of the exercise. The commission last week decided to shorten the period of the registration to cater for an extensive period of claims and objections. It will also merge the data gathered from the exercise with that of the National Register of Registrants to arrive at the Preliminary Voters’ List.

GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Yolanda Warde, told the Guyana Chronicle on Friday that no one will be left out in the cold in the upcoming General and Regional Elections, which were triggered as a result of a no-confidence motion passed against the government last December.

Warde, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, explained that Guyanese, who have been registered and were unable to do so during the period allotted for house-to-house registration, will be given an opportunity to have their names added to the National Register of Registrants Database during the claims and objection Period. “If you will be 18-years-old by the October 31, and you have never registered, you will have that opportunity to do so during the claims and objection exercise,” the GECOM PRO said.

She explained too that in keeping with the August 14 ruling of the Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire, the Elections Commission will not remove anyone from the National Register of Registrants Database with the exception of those who would have died (once the required documents are provided) and those who have become disqualified. As such, names of Guyanese who have registered in the past will remain on the national register.

“If you are on the current database, and you might have had name change, you would have had transferred or relocated from one address to the other, and the team may not have reached you as yet, then you have an opportunity to do that change during the claims and objections exercise which would be office-based. So rather than we going to you, you will come to us, and then we will do a verification of that,” Warde explained.
However, the period for claims and objection has not been set. Warde noted that at this stage, GECOM is soliciting information on how it could effectively carry out fingerprint cross matching as the data from the national registration is merged with the National Register of Registrants Database.

“GECOM has been engaging a company for a long time that has been doing fingerprint cross matching for us, however, that company has given us a little longer timeline than we would want particularly at this juncture which we are trying to deliver with expediency. So what we have decided is that Jamaica has that expertise, in terms of fingerprint cross matching, so that technical team was in Jamaica to see what system they have, the functionality of the system, and to really see how best they might be able to support us by giving us a shorter time that they can deliver those results than the other company,” Warde explained.

Meanwhile, last week Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, met with members of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to discuss GECOM’s state of readiness for the upcoming General and Regional Elections.
The meeting was held in response to a request by the PSC to meet with the newly-appointed GECOM Chairperson. During the two-hour meeting which was held in the GECOM’s Boardroom, Chairman of the PSC, Mr. Gerald Gouveia, explained that there has been a fruitful relationship between the two agencies for more than 15 years. He outlined some of the specific areas of collaboration in particular, the PSC’s role as accredited observers during elections and expressed an interest in continued support and collaboration. However, the meeting focused extensively on the GECOM’s state of preparedness for the holding of the elections in light of the constitutional deadline, the CCJ’s ruling on the no-confidence motion and the recent ruling of the Chief Justice on house-to-house registration. Specifically, the PSC expressed concerns as it relates to what was referred to as ‘the possible lengthy duration to merge the National Register of Registrant Databases (NRRDs)’.

In response to the concerns raised, Justice Singh explained that in her capacity as GECOM’s Chairperson, she will be doing everything possible within her remit to ensure that the ruling of the court is honoured and the elections are held within the shortest possible time. She added that, based on her decisions taken at the last statutory meeting, the technical team is working to provide timelines to the commission. Also present at the meeting was Chief Election Officer, Mr. Keith Lowenfield, who provided details on the secretariat’s operational activities. Upon conclusion of the meeting, the PSC submitted a letter requesting accreditation to observe the upcoming General and Regional Elections and pledged continued support and collaboration with the commission. The Guyana Elections Commission remains committed to engaging stakeholders as it works assiduously to ensure a credible list is established and elections are held within the shortest possible time.