THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has approved the acceptance of late notifications for the appointment of polling and assistant agents, as well as candidates to the poll and count, from several political parties.
The approval was granted during a meeting of the Commission on Saturday, August 30, following formal appeals by the Alliance for Change (AFC), Assembly of Liberty and Prosperity (ALP), Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), and The We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political parties.
According to a release from GECOM, these parties had missed the statutory timeline outlined in Section 24(2) of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA), which requires such appointments to be submitted to Returning Officers no later than seven days before Election Day.
As the release explained, “a special sitting of a statutory meeting was convened, and the requests were approved in the interest of fairness and transparency, and to ensure the integrity of the process”.
Chief Election Officer Vishnu Persaud has since notified all concerned political representatives of the decision, and urged them to immediately pursue accreditation of their agents and candidates with Returning Officers, given the limited time remaining before tomorrow’s polls.
The Commission emphasized that this decision was necessary to maintain inclusivity in the electoral process, while safeguarding its credibility.