Just yesterday, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo pointed out that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was able to hold three elections in the last four years without conducting house-to-house registration, an activity it now says is necessary before the next general and regional elections could be held. But GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander described Jagdeo as “devious” for creating such a false picture for the public. Alexander stressed that no funding was available for GECOM to proceed with the said exercise, which for him is now more critical than ever before Guyanese head to the polls again.
During an exclusive interview moments ago, Alexander explained that GECOM’s arrangement is that house-to-house would be conducted every seven years. With the last exercise being held in 2008, the next time it was due was in 2015, which is when the May 11 elections were held. However, GECOM was not given the funds to do house-to-house registration. The same circumstances prevailed for the last two local government elections that were held after 2015.
The GECOM Commissioner said, “So considering those points, Jagdeo is being devious by suggesting that we didn’t bother to do this exercise. We couldn’t have it then because the required funds were not available.”
The official further stated that since house-to-house was not done in 2015, then it becomes more critical to get it completed with every additional year that goes by.
