The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is looking into a request by ExxonMobil for consideration to be given to over 300 of its employees offshore Guyana to cast their vote on Elections Day.

Commissioner of GECOM Vincent Alexander told the media on Tuesday that the matter has not been finalised but there are some recommendations on the table. “The options are either they shut down the operation and bring the workers on shore or we try to grant them proxies,” he said.

A voter is entitled to vote by proxy at the upcoming elections if he or she is unable to go to the polling station where he or she is listed to vote on Election Day based on specific circumstances. In Exxon’s case, these electors could fall within the category of voters who are “engaged in the running of a vessel on Election Day” or “for whom it is likely to be impractical or seriously inconvenient, by reason of the general nature of his or her occupation, service or employment or for the good cause”.

Presently, the transfer of Guyana’s first million-barrel lift of crude from the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel to the oil tanker Cap Philippe is ongoing. It marks one of three lifts of crude to be sold to Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited in the coming weeks. Many Guyanese are onboard the FPSO working along with ExxonMobil to facilitate the process while Guyanese are also onboard drill ships in positions of catering, roustabouts, clerks, logistics and medical practitioners.

Commissioner Alexander said that GECOM has been faced with similar requests in the past when it comes to Guyana’s extractive sector. “We have had the past experience where Troy [Resources] and the [other] two big companies had to shut down their operations and allow the workers out. They have not made any request of us this time, Exxon has and related agencies have so we’ll be considering them,” he said. The Cap 1:03 of the Representation of the People Act states: “Every employer shall permit every elector in his employ, other than any elector on whose behalf another elector has been appointed to vote as a proxy, to be absent from his work on election day for a reasonable time, in addition to the normal midday meal hour, for the purpose of voting at the election; and no employer shall make any deduction from pay or other remuneration of any such elector or impose on him or exact from him any penalty by reason of his absence during such period.”