OVER 30,000 new applicants have submitted applications, thus far, in the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ongoing registration exercise, which began on March 7 and is set to conclude on May 29.
This is according to Chief Elections Officer, Vishnu Persaud, who shared that the exercise has been coming along fairly well.
“The exercise is flowing smoothly. We would have crossed the 30,000 mark in terms of numbers in the A and B categories [which covers] the 18 and over and 14 – 17 years old applicants. We have crossed 30,000 up to two days ago and it’s climbing,” Persaud said, while speaking to the media on the sideline of an event at the Marriott Hotel on Friday.
Persaud noted that the daily rate of applications has reduced somewhat; however, with just two weeks remaining for the registration exercise, GECOM is anticipating an increase due to last minute rush, but Persaud said that GECOM is sufficiently prepared to deal with such an occurrence if it happens.
“It is expected that there would be a surge going to the end of the exercise which we are prepared for. Outside of that, we have been doing well in terms of treating with the number of persons who have been coming forward to be registered,” Persaud said.
Following a verification process where the fingerprints of the new applicants will be sent overseas and cross referenced with those already existing in the system, the new applicants would then be part of a list submitted by the Secretariat to the Commission for approval to be added to the National Register of Registrants, which is the national database of registrants used to create the Official List of Electors.
Persaud noted, however, that any matches found in the fingerprint would be investigated.
“If it comes back with matches, then we have to investigate them. We would remove those that are confirmed to be doubles before we go to the commission for approval to commit the approved applications to the National Register of Registrants so that they can become bona fide registrants. That is followed by the production and issuance of ID cards,” Persaud explained.
Persaud said he could not say when the new ID cards would be ready, as GECOM has to wait for the overseas contractor to conclude the fingerprint verification process. However, he estimates that within a month after the closure of registration that the entire process could be wrapped up.