House-to-House data to be published
The encoding of the Houseto-House data has been completed, and the process of its publication by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for public scrutiny will begin today.
This was revealed to reporters by Commissioner Charles Corbin shortly after a statutory meeting of the Commission yesterday, at its Kingston Headquarters. Kaieteur News understands that that data will be published in the respective areas in which those persons were registered, over the course of a few days.
The verification of this data is important to the Opposition and its supporters. People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, had opposed the exercise even before it started. He had urged his supporters to boycott the exercise. He had also sided with a legal challenge to the exercise.Even when the exercise was suspended by the Commission after the new Chair, (ret’d) Justice Claudette Singh (SC) was installed, Jagdeo and his party opposed the intended merger of the data with the National Register of Registrants (NRR). He had reasoned that because the PPP didn’t send scrutineers, the integrity of the data is questionable.
What is sure is that the data will be used, said Corbin, but it is unclear how it will be used, according to both Corbin and fellow Commissioner, Sase Gunraj. Furthermore, Corbin said that the lack of clarity on this matter also brings into question whether all of the data will be used. He added that there will have to be a definitive statement which brings that discussion to an end – likely from the Secretariat.
The first batch of crossmatched fingerprints has already returned, and a report finds those somewhere in the vicinity of 180,000 registrants. The second batch of fingerprints is now set to be sent off for crossmatching, but it is unclear when that will be completed. The Commission Tuesday met with a delegation from the European Union, who expressed the interest in fielding an observer mission during the March 2, 2020 elections. The delegation has already met with other election stakeholders, including Government, according to Corbin, to explain the scope and method of the intended operations. He said that the Commission welcomed the involvement and will facilitate the observation process. The Government-nominated Commissioner revealed that other international parties, including those from Canada and the United States, have indicated that they would make their services available to the Commission. The nature of that assistance, he explained, will depend on the specific needs of GECOM, as they may arise. Those parties are continuing to facilitate communication with GECOM, and will be around to offer assistance before, during and after the election season. Commission split on measures to sanitise list. Persons are expected to visit the GECOM offices serving the area in which they live to ensure that their particulars are verified.
(Kaieteur News)