GECOM cuts short continuous registration ahead of upcoming elections

Feb 25, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana has cut short the continuous registration of potential voters ahead of the previously stated deadline of May 31, 2023 for the Guyana Elections Commission.

The Order, made under the National Registration Act was signed off by GECOM Chairperson, Justice of Appeal (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, bringing forward the closing off date to yesterday February 24, 2023.

The Order, since published in the Official Gazette, provides for the suspension of the period of registration which is provided for under the National Registration Act.

It was noted that notice was given “by the Elections Commission on 29 December 2022, during the period of preparation of the registers of voters for the Local Government Elections to be held on 12 June 2023.

GECOM Chairperson, Justice of Appeal (Ret’d) Claudette Singh

The order was made on Wednesday last and was thereafter published in the Official Gazette.

To this end, it was stipulated in the Order that the “period of continuous registration provided for in section 6(1A)(a), of the National Registration Act, Cap. 19:08, as amended by Act No. 26 of 2022, scheduled to run from 3 January 2023 to 31 May 2023, shall be suspended with effect from 24 February 2023.

Earlier in the Month, GECOM said that it will begin the preparation of the Registers of Voters for the conduct of Local Government Elections (LGE), on Monday, February 13, 2023.

As such, it was noted that in this regard, Offices of Assistant Electoral Registrars (AERs) have been established in each of the eighty (80) Local Authority Areas.

During that exercise, any person who will be 18 years and older by the 22nd May, 2023, and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, or naturalization, or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more, was able to make a Claim to entry on the Register of Voters (RoV) on or before 19th February, 2023 providing that he/she is not listed in the Preliminary List of Voters (PLV), which have been posted in every Constituency in the respective Local Authority Areas.

Persons desirous of making Claims to be included in the RoV were advised to visit the Office of the Assistant Electoral Registrar (AER) responsible for the Local Authority Area where they reside with the required source document(s) such as original Birth Certificate, valid Passport, Adoption Certificate, or Naturalization Certificate / Certificate of Registration, to be registered for inclusion.

Existing registrants were also advised to check the PLV posted at two (2) prominent locations in each constituency in the respective Local Authority Area, at the Offices of the Electoral Registrars and Assistant Electoral Registrars, or on GECOM’s website at www.gecom.org.gy to verify the existence/accuracy of their registration information in the PLV.

GECOM at the time indicated too that persons, who need to update their registration records, for example, to change or make corrections to their names and occupation, or to apply for a transfer if they have changed their addresses since they were registered, are advised that they can apply for such transactions during this exercise.

The relevant source documents such as an original Marriage Certificate, Deed Poll with Birth Certificate, or a new Birth Certificate reflecting the changes must be presented in the case of an application for a change or correction.

Objections against the inclusion of names in the PLV were allowed to be tendered to the Assistant Electoral Registrar (AER) of the Local Authority Area from 13th February, 2023 to 22nd February, 2023.

At the time, GECOM had reiterated that “while the Continuous Registration Exercise and the Claims and Objections Exercise are being conducted simultaneously, persons who are now registering for the first time and would be eligible to vote at the upcoming Local Government Elections must visit the Office of the AER in the LAA where they reside in order for their names to be included on the RoV for this election.”

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GECOM Chairperson, Government, Guyana Elections Commission, Justice of Appeal (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, National Registration Act

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