Voters no longer required to verify registration

-as GECOM revokes contentious order

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has revoked an order which required all prospective voters for the 2020 general and regional elections to verify their registration during the upcoming claims and objections (C&O) process.

By way of an order issued last week, Order No. 70 of 2019, GECOM had required every person whose name appears on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) to 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) for the polls.

However, a new order that has been issued no longer includes the requirement. “The National Registration (Residents) Order No. 70 of 2019, dated 26th September, 2019, is hereby revoked,” it says.

Opposition nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj said the dates for the C&O process have also been reduced from the erroneous 49 that was previously published to 42. The C&O process begins today and will end on November 11th.

During this time, the PLE, which will have 646,625 entries, will be subject to scrutiny at various registration offices around the country, including several mobile offices which the commission has said it will establish.

Gunraj shared on his Facebook page a copy of a “corrected” order he received from the Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield.

It was not previously a requirement for persons on a preliminary voters’ list to verify their registration and there was no explanation for the change by the commission, which prompted concerns over the legality of the move.

Responding to questions from Stabroek News on Friday, GECOM public relations officer Yolanda Ward had emphasised that as per the order those who do not verify their registration will not be included in the official list.

The order was seen as a bid to impose a residency requirement for voting as Attorney General Basil Williams has been trying to accomplish in court and Gunraj had argued that it contravened the ruling of Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, who held that the removal of names would be unconstitutional unless said persons are deceased or otherwise disqualified under Article 159 (2) (3) or (4).

Gunraj told Stabroek News that at GECOM’s statutory meeting today he will be asking for an investigation into the matter and to have sanctions imposed against persons responsible for any erroneous missives.

“No decision was taken on that as there was no discussion or proposal. I want to label this as dishonesty by the Secretariat,” he said, before adding that he will be asking 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 stressed.

He also maintained that he will continue to advocate for the C&O to be limited to 35 days as previously agreed.

Last 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 September 26 Order provides for 49 days and the current order provides for 42.

“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.