The Guyana Elections Commission today revealed that the official list of electors has grown to 718,715 persons and is expected to grow even more as continuous registration has been taking place. The Opposition has been voicing its concerns about the size of the voters list and the need for the list to be cleansed ahead of next year’s elections.

At a press conference this afternoon, Deputy Chief Election Officer Aneal Giddings stated that after the next claims and objections period in January, a new official list of electors will be compiled and the number of persons on that list is expected to grow.

“Obviously after C&O (Claims and Objections) in January coming, there will be a new official list of electors”, Giddings said.

The Deputy Chief Elections Officer also revealed that there have been more than 28,000 new registrations recorded for the year. However, he could not provide the details of the new registrants as it relates to those who were born in Guyana, as against Commonwealth citizens and those who are naturalized citizens. He said that information will be provided at a later date.

With a growing list of electors and concerns about its size as compared to the country’s population, the Chairman of GECOM, retired Justice Claudette Singh reminded of the ruling of the Chief Justice with regard to the removal of non-residents from the list.

She said GECOM is being guided by that ruling which does not allow it to remove persons from the list although they may no longer be resident in Guyana. The GECOM Chair said there has been no appeal of that ruling, and so the ruling stands.

“That decision was never appealed and its 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 Chairman told reporters.

On the issue of dead persons on the list, Chief Election Officer Vishnu Persaud said for the period January to April 2024, the Chief Medical Officer and the Commissioner of Police have informed the Commission of more than 1000 deaths, and based on that information, the Commission found 1018 persons as deceased. However, a verification process is till to be completed.

“In 2022, when the Representation of the People Act was amended, provisions were made for the Chief Medical Officer and the Commissioner of Police to submit reports to GECOM providing particulars pertaining to persons whom they might have recorded as being deceased. We have received a report each from both of these agencies for the period January to April 2024. I have reminded them of the need for them to keep giving us these reports on a regular basis and I am aware that this is a work in progress. 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? So let me say that in this regard, 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.

Another burning issue that has been shadowing the Elections Commission is the issue of biometrics and the calls by some political parties for biometrics to be introduced for voting as an added level of security.

GECOM Chairman, Justice Claudette Singh said that issue is still before the Commission and she would not want to say too much on it.

Back in 2019, the then Head of GECOM Information Technology Department, Aneal Giddings who is now the Deputy Chief Election Officer, had completed a report on the introduction of biometrics for the Commission and timelines associated with that introduction.

The current GECOM Chairman was not the Chairman at the time, and today she said she is unaware of that report.

Elections in Guyana are due next year, and with the Vice President recently stating that the Commission should be ready for Elections by August of next year, the Chief Election Officer today indicated that the Commission is still to formally receive any notification about a timeline for the next elections and as such it has not yet put systems into motion.

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