WITH minimal reports of challenges, hiccups or disruptions, on Monday, Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud described Nomination Day as “very smooth and satisfactory,” as Guyana moves one step closer to the hosting of its next Local Government Elections (LGE), which is set for June 12.

In a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Monday evening, hours after the deadline for submissions, Persaud said that Returning Officers across the country have already began the process of vetting the lists of candidates submitted by the various political parties, groups and individual candidates.

“In a nutshell, all in all, we had a very smooth and satisfactory day into the submission of list of candidates. Going forward, what is required of us is to follow the statutory procedure in terms of determining the acceptability of those lists.

“If there are defects we have to give the stakeholders the opportunity to correct them. When the lists are corrected, then the lists are approved and we can proceed to the preparation of ballots going towards the election,” Persaud related.

Entities wishing to participate in the upcoming LGEs and contest for a seat on any of the councils with the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAA) across Guyana were required to submit their list of candidates on Monday at the respective offices of the Returning Officers under which their LAA fall. Submissions were allowed between 10:00 hours to 14:00 hours.

With submissions completed, a preliminary record of the various list of candidates could be made available as soon as Tuesday, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Yolanda Ward said.

She, however, reminded that candidates would only be able to make it on to the ballot for the elections if they satisfy all statutory requirements set out in the legislations governing the elections.

Each list must be reviewed by the respective Returning Officers (RO) over the next few hours to ensure they satisfy necessary criteria, and it would be some time before the approved candidates can be made public.

“It doesn’t mean that because a list was submitted means that it would be approved. It has to go through a vetting process. And as of today immediately after we received the list the ROs commenced that examination process,” Ward said.

Should any defects be discovered on any list, the submitting entity will be notified and given a statutory period of time to correct the defect and resubmit their list.

“They have to meet all the statutory requirements and there is a timeline for that,” Ward said.