SEVERAL small parties that submitted Lists of Candidates to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Nomination Day have been notified that their lists were defective– meaning that there were errors which could affect their participation in the coming General and Regional Elections.

However, when the Guyana Chronicle spoke with some of these parties on Sunday, they assured the newspaper that the mistakes were minor and were already corrected or in the process of being corrected.

Presidential Candidate of The New Movement (TNM), Dr. Asha Kissoon stated: “We had a few corrections and we’ve already fixed them and will be re-submitting tomorrow. It wasn’t anything much, small things like one signature from Region 10.”

The TNM has branded itself as a party of young professionals, and was among the first set of parties which camped out in front of the Umana Yana ahead of Nomination Day to ensure themselves a place in the coming elections.

Meanwhile, Attorney and Executive Member of the Federal United Party (FED-UP), Chandra Sohan said that defects were found on the party’s list and it would be re-submitting a corrected list today.

“What happened with us is that we were short of a couple of candidates for Region Six and there were some mix-up with the names as a far as Region Five is concerned, but we just have to submit those additional names to GECOM so that has been sorted out,” he stated.
FED-UP was formed in 2018 and is contesting only the Regional Elections in Regions Five and Six.

Also speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, United Republican Party (URP) Presidential Candidate, Dr. Vishnu Bandhu, said that the mistakes identified on his party’s lists were already corrected.

“We corrected it already. It was nothing that we can’t handle,” he said.
“We were in accord with what they have on the website and what they tell you is wrong, it wasn’t wrong according to what they put up on the website. But we are giving them the benefit of the doubt,” he said.

The URP has taken a go at the General and Regional Elections more than once but is yet to win a seat. The party will launch its manifesto on Wednesday at the Cara Lodge and has invited members of the public as well as members of the diplomatic corps to attend.
On the submission of Lists of Candidates on Nomination Day, Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield is tasked with notifying representatives and deputy representatives of a party’s List that a list is defective.

The party will have until January 13, 2020 to submit a corrected list, through its representatives.
The provision is made for appeals to be made to the High Court, if needs be, by January 16, 2020.

Approved lists will be gazetted on January 19, 2020, meaning that nothing can be changed at this time.

Any changes, such as the death/withdrawal of a candidate or intent of a joiner of lists, these must be done on January 11 and 17 respectively.