A CYCLE of continuous registration to update the voters’ list will commence Monday, March 7, 2022, according to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

This was revealed Tuesday after multiple commissioners confirmed the outcome. Reports indicate that Chairman (retired) Justice Claudette Singh cast the tie-breaking vote in favour of the registration while APNU+AFC nominated commissioners voted against.

With there being likelihood that Local Government Elections (LGE) will be held this year, GECOM was allocated some $783 million to begin preparations for the polls.

This sum was included in the commission’s $4.1 billion budget, which was approved by the Parliamentary Committee of Supply in February last.

The elections were due in 2021 and although $1.1 billion had been allocated for it in that year’s national budget, there were questions surrounding the credibility of several GECOM employees who were implicated in purported attempts to rig the 2020 elections. Several of those employees were eventually fired.

Last December, after months without a Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud was hired to fill the post. And although there are still key administrative gaps within GECOM’s secretariat, provisions have been made for the commission to commence preparations for the Local Government Elections.

Continuous registration is part of preparations for the holding of Local Government Elections (LGEs), the continuous registration will likely run for three months at a time and followed by a period of claims and objections.