The claims process that was restarted to facilitate registration for the upcoming elections ended yesterday, with an estimated 5,000 persons being processed.
The Claims and Objections process, which was restarted by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) last Monday, was to facilitate persons who were previously unable to register. The Claims aspect of the 13-day exercise was scheduled to run for 10 days.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) yesterday attributed the estimated figure for new registrations to Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon. “Cabinet welcomed that development which has since paved the way for eligible Guyanese in their numbers to be enfranchised,” he said.
In order to facilitate the process, the National Assembly on July 21 amended the National Registration Act to provide for persons who were unable to register owing to circumstances beyond their control. The ruling PPP/C, in making an argument to reopen Claims and Objections, highlighted the plight of persons who were unable to access source documents in time to be registered.
In Georgetown, information compiled over the duration of the registration period at the North and South Georgetown offices up to yesterday revealed that an estimated three hundred and fifty and eight hundred persons, respectively, registered.
On the first day of the exercise, the South Georgetown office processed over 45 new registrants, while the North Georgetown office processed over 130 new registrants, checks by Stabroek News found.
However, the numbers diminished as the exercise came to a close and yesterday the South Georgetown office only saw about 12 persons, while the North Georgetown office facilitated registration or name or location changes for 20 persons.
Approximately eight percent of the total number did not have the relevant source documents –birth certificate or passport –initially, and many gave frivolous reasons as to why they were not registered before, this newspaper was told. Some persons stated that they were not voting in the upcoming elections and as a result they did not see the need to obtain an identification card.
One woman said it was only when she went to the bank to conduct business and found out that her identification card was no longer valid that she decided to make use of the late registration period and register herself. She will, however, still not be voting, she said. Other reasons given were that persons were either out of their districts, didn’t have the time, did not want authorities to have identification data on them or did not reside in Guyana.
One official at a registration office stated that regardless of the numbers, she was pleased that more persons saw being registered as being important. Overall, she said, the registration period was “fairly okay” and she was glad that GECOM decided to restart the process.
