On Friday last, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) decided that it will publish the names of some 20,000 possible new registrants garnered from the truncated house-to-house registration exercise for public scrutiny. However, the elections body met today at a special meeting to review that decision.
GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Yolanda Ward, confirmed that a meeting was held today, but she could not say what it was about, or whether any decisions were taken. She noted that the commission can meet any time it chooses, and that special meetings are nothing “new”.
When opposition-aligned Commissioner Sase Gunraj was contacted, he informed the Guyana Standard that the commission did meet, but could not provide an update on the meeting, as he was preparing to head into a meeting.
Another source at GECOM confirmed that the meeting was geared at ironing out the way forward regarding the names that the commission intends to publish.
This publication understands that the decision to meet stemmed from concerns that were raised in the public domain over the data.
The source said that there were several anomalies in the dataset which points to duplicates, incorrect addresses and other forms of inaccurate entries that were done during the process.
This disclosure mirrors claims being made by the Opposition, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) that the data is inconsistent. Over the weekend, the Party published an anomaly where the former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Cecil Kennard, is listed as a “new registrant” even though his name is already on the Primary List of Electors (PLE).
It is still unclear if the Commission will retain its decision to publish those names for public scrutiny, or whether an alternative has been sought.
The Nation is also in the dark when it comes to the process that will be employed to the 18,000-plus names of persons, who did not uplift their National Identification Cards from 2008.
It was government-aligned Commissioner, Vincent Alexander who told the media that the decision to place those persons on a supplemental list was up for a review.
