Last updated on Friday November 22, 2024, 9:18 p.m. by Writer

With the number of eligible voters expected to surpass the latest figure of 718,715 and further fuel opposition calls for a clean roll and digital registration of fingerprints and voter identification in polling stations, Chairperson of the Guyana Electoral Commission (GECOM), Claudette Singh, said on Friday. the commission must determine whether it can introduce this biometric system.

“After listening to the comments of the commissioners, who were evenly divided on how to proceed, and based on my own review of the feasibility study, I took the position that it was important for GECOM to understand and take position. on its ability to introduce the system before addressing stakeholders, as this lack of such understanding and position would lead to GECOM appearing ill-prepared, ill-informed and unable to properly deal with this highly sensitive issue “, she declared during a press conference.

She said after such a discussion which will continue next week, GECOM should then consult stakeholders on whether to introduce the digitized biometric system.

The feasibility study carried out by the Chief Electoral Officer indicates that stakeholders – voters, candidates, political parties, civil society organizations – should have confidence in the reliability, accuracy and inclusiveness of the exercise. voter registration.

Retired Justice Singh said the seven-member commission had not reached an agreement on how the discussions should take place, one of them being that stakeholder consultation was necessary before to be able to fully discuss the issue itself, as the views of stakeholders should be taken into account. . Another view, she said, was that the commission could begin discussing the issue while simultaneously holding consultations with stakeholders and the comments could be taken into account in the commission’s discussions. Third, it was possible that the commission would first discuss the issue before stakeholders could be consulted and in what form.

GECOM Deputy Electoral Officer Aneal Giddings said the list of eligible voters, which now totals 718,715, would increase for the 2025 general and regional elections as November 2025 registrations have not yet been included. In the March 2, 2020 elections, 464,565 votes were cast out of a total of 661,378 eligible voters.

On the thorny issue of the need for a clean electoral roll, the GECOM president relies on a 2019 High Court decision, which has not been appealed, that the names do not could not be deleted from the electoral list and the list of registered voters if they are abroad, unless there is proof that these people are dead. Only legislation could make it easier to remove names from the lists, as this High Court decision was never appealed and now has the force of law.

The Chief Electoral Officer said GECOM used information from the Registrar General’s office to report the names of deceased persons who were removed from the electoral roll but retained in the National Register of Registrants. In line with an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, Mr Persaud said the chief medical officer and the police commissioner had submitted the names of 1,018 people who died between January and April 2024. He said these names do not had not yet been verified because GECOM has not yet approved the methodology to do so.