Gunraj to press for sanctions for ‘dishonest’ registration verification move
Following what he believes is an error in the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) announcement that all potential voters for the 2020 elections must verify their registration, opposition-nominated commissioner Sase Gunraj said that he will press for sanctions against those responsible.
Gunraj told Stabroek News yesterday that at GECOM’s statutory meeting tomorrow, he will be asking for an investigation into the matter and to have sanctions imposed against persons responsible for any erroneous missives.
GECOM, on Friday, said that all potential voters for the 2020 elections must verify their registration during the extended Claims and Objections (C&O) process, sparking a furore among opposition-nominated commissioners who said the move was illegal.
It has never been a requirement for persons on a preliminary voters’ list to verify their identity with a registration office and there has been no explanation for the change since.
“During this exercise, every person whose name appear[s] on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) must visit the Registration office in their respective area with their National Identification Card to verify their registration record in order to be included in the Official List of Electors (OLE),” GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward said in a statement issued on Friday.
The statement was a direct reference to the wording of the recently gazetted National Registration (Residents) Order No. 70 of 2019. The order states in its second schedule that the days on which persons listed on the Preliminary List are to visit the Registration Office to verify his/her registration record for inclusion on the Official List of Electors (OLE) will be October 1 to November 11, 2019.
Responding to questions from Stabroek News, Ward had emphasised that as per the Order, those who do not verify their registration will not be included in the OLE.
This new GECOM order will be seen as a bid to impose a residency requirement for voting as Attorney General Basil Williams has been trying to accomplish in court.
Opposition-nominated members of the commission have roundly condemned this move labelling it as “hogwash.”
“This can only be seen as an attempt to foist another version of house-to-house on the citizens of this nation,” Gunraj had told a press conference following the announcement. He had stressed that this was never a position taken by the commission “either in whole or in part,” contending that in fact it was never discussed at the level of the commission.
Gunraj also suggested that the order contravenes the ruling of Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire which states that the removal of names from the list would be unconstitutional unless the said persons are deceased or otherwise disqualified under Article 159 (2) (3) or (4).
“She stated specifically that residency was not a requirement to be included on the OLE and by extension the PLE,” he reminded. Government has since appealed this aspect of the ruling and asked for a stay of the attached order.
Yesterday, Gunraj echoed most of what he said at the press conference, as he emphasised that “no decision was taken on that as there was no discussion or proposal. I want to label this as dishonesty by the secretariat.”
“Are you telling me you will inconvenience 600,000 people? What kind of confounded nonsense is that?” he questioned.
“I am going to ask for an investigation to be launched against the person or persons that are responsible for perpetuating this against the commission, and whoever is found culpable has to be sanctioned. This is the third consecutive week that I have had reason to correct the releases from the secretariat, the third,” he added.
He said that he will ask GECOM Chairperson Claudette Singh for the matter to be a priority for tomorrow’s statutory meeting as he sees it as an “urgent matter because it is causing confusion and mayhem throughout the country.”
Gunraj said that he will also inquire on the C&O Order being stated as being for a 49 days period when it was agreed that it will be for 35 days.
On Tuesday, government and opposition-nominated members of the commission had announced to reporters that there was a unanimous agreement for there to be an extensive C&O process for 35 days but the Order provides for 49 days.
“Charles Corbin had suggested 49 days. My side was suggesting 21 then we removed to 28 and that is how the secretariat came to 35 because it was a compromise between the two [numbers]. Then now, [that figure] just came up in the order. It is not a cut and paste error, it is not something to say that you used an old order and it was probably [an] error. These are specific dates that had been touted by the government side,” he said.
“I spoke to the chairman on Friday in relation to that time…I raised that with her and she undertook to have it changed. She communicated to me on Friday that it will be changed but up to now, I have not seen this done. That is the undertaking I have from the chairman,” he added.