Guyanese and Commonwealth citizens, who are eligible to vote in the September 1 General and Regional Elections have until Wednesday, June 18, 2025 to register as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) advances the process of producing an Official List of Electors.
In an interview with News Source today, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward, said now that the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) is in circulation, Claims and Objections have commenced. However, the entire process will conclude on June 20.
Persons now have three days from today to make their claim for entry in the Official List of Electors (OLE).
“So, you have never been registered, you are a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, naturalization or citizen of a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more, then you can make a claim to entry in the OLE provided that you will be 18 years or older by the 30th June, 2025. So, that’s the first thing during the claims period. The second thing is if you would like to have changes or correction done to your registration particulars, you have had a name change, you want to make certain corrections to your registration information because there has been a misspelling in your name, you can have that done, and importantly, you can apply for a transfer in relation to your address,” Ward explained.
To accommodate the influx of persons, the Elections Secretariat has extended the office hours for its local offices. GECOM offices across the country will be opened between 8am and 8pm for the next three days.
It was noted, however, that persons who will attain the age of 18 after June 30, will not be eligible for inclusion in the OLE.
Additionally, persons have until June 20 to file their objections to anyone who they suspect may not be eligible for inclusion into the (OLE).
“For the objections really is for anyone whom you suspect may not be eligible for inclusion in the OLE, you can make an objection to that name or those names or persons. But of course, I must caution that you could only object to a name or names of persons that are included in the same list that you are listed in. so, you cannot for example be living in one subdivision and going into another subdivision to make that objection,” Ward explained.
Objections are largely due to the names of deceased persons appearing on the PLE. However, Ward noted that the burden of proof is usually on the person making the objection. It was noted that the laws provide for GECOM to remove the names of deceased persons from the list using official channels.
“The law provides a system in place for GECOM to receive information from the General Registers Office. With the amendments to the National Registrations Act, there is also a provision for us to receive from the Guyana Police Force as well as the Chief Medical Officer. We have been receiving those information, and as they are received, there is a procedure in place by which those names are removed from the list,” Ward said.
Ward said the statistics relating to the number of deceased persons removed from the list were not available at the time, but she assured that the names of deceased persons have been consistently removed.
As of last week, there were 757,066 persons listed on the Preliminary List of Electors. Once the claims and objection exercise is completed, GECOM, according to Ward, will then move to compile the Revised List of Electors.
She said the Official List of Electors will be available early July ahead of Nomination Day. Nomination Day is set for July 14, however, parties hoping to contest the General and Regional Elections must submit their symbols by June 22 for preapproval.
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