Following a review, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) today announced that it would be holding another Claims and Objections exercise, which is intended to facilitate persons who were previously unable to register.
Two government-nominated members of the commission, Dr. Keshav Mangal and Mahmood Shaw, along with one opposition-nominated member, Robert Williams, voted to hold the new exercise. The two other opposition-nominated members, Vincent Alexander and Charles Corbin, were against it. The other government-nominated commissioner, Moen McDoom is out of the country.
At a news conference this afternoon, GECOM said the 13-day exercise would commence on July 25, with the Claims aspect to run for 10 days.
Although GECOM had previously ruled out extending the last Claims and Objections exercise, which ended June 9th, a commissioner requested that the issue be reviewed, based on the argument that some persons previously without access to source documents for registration had since acquired them, and that the process would not jeopardise the date for elections.
The ruling PPP/C had been lobbying for the new Claims and Objections exercise in recent weeks, while opposition parties—PNCR, AFC and WPA—have questioned the timing of the move, while expressing concern about its implications for the voters’ list and the poll date.
