– among approved amendments to National Registration Act

FIXED periods for voter registration, regular removal of deceased persons from the official list of electors (OLE), and cyclic issuance of national identification cards are among the significant amendments to the National Registration Act (NRA).

According to the Department of Public Information, the Bill, No. 23 of 2022, was read for the second time early on Tuesday morning by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C. It was subsequently passed.

Introduced to the National Assembly on November 7, it sought to amend the National Registration Act, Cap. 19:08 and strengthen and clarify the concept of a continuous registration system which is provided for by law.

The approved amendments will pave the way for the continuous registration of voters to be done in two periods, during the months of January and May with the qualifying date being June 30, and during the months of July to November with the qualifying date being December 31.

The amendments to the NRA go hand-in-hand with amendments to the Representation of the People Act (ROPA), and has completed the cycle of amendments being made to the electoral system.

According to the DPI, the AG said the bill, like ROPA, contains a number of necessary amendments, which bring clarity to ambiguous sections of the law.

“What this bill seeks to do generally is to strengthen and clarify the concept of a continuous registration system which is provided for by law. There are sections within the law that can create some kind of doubt, and that is why there is an argument continuously made for house-to-house registration,” he was quoted as saying.

In keeping with the approved amendments to the Act, references to residency and house-to-house registration will be removed.

Instead, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will be responsible for the establishment of offices in registration districts where registration officers will receive registration applications from eligible persons with addresses in that district, the DPI added.

Provision is also made for persons unable to attend registration offices due to physical incapacity. Under new subsection (4A), a registration officer, with the approval of the GECOM commissioner, may visit the address of the person to accept his or her application for registration.

The DPI said that sections 8A, 8B and 8C will now be inserted to deal with the cancellation of registration of persons who are dead. It requires the Registrar General of Births and Deaths to send to the Commissioner once every month, a list of all persons 14 years and older whose deaths have been registered in the preceding month.

It therefore declares that the Commissioner shall cancel the registration of every person from the central and divisional registers whose name is on the list.

According to the DPI, stricter penalties have also been imposed for breaches of the law.