With four months to go until the staging of the much anticipated Local Government Elections, there are still concerns with regard to the current voters’ list; a concern which the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has already dealt with according to one Commissioner.
Specifically, GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj told the Guyana Standard that the election body is well aware of concerns with the current voters’ list. “This issue relating to the list, in my humble opinion, is a settled issue. GECOM had a claims and objections period which was extended to facilitate the addition of persons entitled to be on the list. And also objections to persons being on the list. And that period ended,” Gunraj noted.
He noted that a revised list was published after the claims and objection period had ended. Commissioner Gunraj added, “This issue about a bloated list was a matter that was discussed over and over and was pronounced upon judicially in which the Chief Justice ruled that residency is not a requirement for persons to be registered in Guyana and abroad.”
Gunraj however claimed that the commission has not met since November first. “GECOM held a statutory meeting on November 1. Last week the meeting was truncated because we lost a quorum. Two of the PNC Commissioners left the meeting for various reasons. The meeting was postponed to Tuesday or Thursday and none of them turned up,” Gunraj stated.
Commissioner Gunraj noted that the Commissioners who sit on the opposition side have been doing so for decades and are aware of rules and laws that apply to the concerns raised by sections of the political sphere.
“They are very well aware of the facilities that are there for the removal and addition of persons. It is a frailty of the continuous registration system where the list grows as a consequence of continuous registration,” the Commissioner said.
Over the weekend, the Alliance For Change in a statement said it will not contest next year’s election if there are no changes to the current list which the party deemed “bloated”. The AFC’s decision follows calls from its coalition partner, APNU, to have the list reviewed. Gunraj said he finds these claims however to be disingenuous at best since they were addressed at length.
