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Voters’ list grows to over 718,000
—GECOM to complete verification to remove over 1000 dead
Chief Elections Officer, Vishnu Persaud
Kaieteur News- A verification process is still to be done to remove over 1000 persons from the electors list who would have been identified as deceased for reporting period January to April 2024. This was revealed by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Vishnu Persaud.
At a press conference held by GECOM on Friday he told reporters that for the year of 2024 this was based on reports from the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and the Acting Commissioner of Police. “In relation to the first two reports that we have received, we have processed the reports and we have found that as of this time, there are 1,018 names of persons reported as deceased, but who we have not had the chance to verify as yet, simply because we do not have an approved methodology that can be used to so do. And you may ask why?,” Persaud said.
He further explained that a methodology was prepared and put before the Commission for approval “so that we can verify these persons and take action. The discussion on that proposal got held up due to the introduction of another aspect wherein, it was put on the table that we should also consider how we can develop a process to treat with registrants who may have died overseas”, Persaud stated.
Though he could not confirm if persons from late last year were included in this number Persaud said that this was for the reporting period of January to April 2024. Deputy Chief Elections Officer of GECOM Aneal Giddings announced that the current electors list stands at 718,715 and this number is expected to increase as continuous registration has been ongoing.
However, he informed that “Obviously after C&O (Claims and Objections) in January coming, there will be a new official list of electors.” There have been repeated calls by the opposition for a new, clean voter’s list however Chairman GECOM Justice Ret’d Claudette Singh sought to remind the media of a ruling by the Chief Justice in relation to the removal of names of non-residents from the list.
She explained that the, “decision was never appealed and it is the law now. “The Chief Justice ruled that we cannot remove the names from the list. Simply put, and not withstanding any agitation by any stakeholder, GECOM cannot act beyond its statutory authority,” the GECOM chair said.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) last year had quoted Giddings saying that GECOM conducts regular checks of the national voters’ list to ensure that the names of deceased persons are not included on lists to be used at any election. “GECOM has been, and now as is required by the amendments made to the National Registration Act Chapter 19:08, we are statutorily required to receive a list from the General Registrar’s Office, as it pertains to those persons who would have been registered as deceased,” he explained. He noted that the national register is received on a monthly basis, and GECOM does its due diligence to ensure deceased persons are flagged accordingly.
“That is the legal way. That is the only way that persons are removed from the national register of registrants,” Giddings said. He further explained that GECOM has several mechanisms in place to ensure that voter fraud is not perpetrated, including having voters’ registration information and photographs at the polling stations.
(Voters’ list grows to over 718,000)
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