GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Election Observation Mission (CEOM) says the size of the voters’ List was among the primary issues raised heading into Monday’s election, and says extensive work and even re-registration must be done to clean the List ahead of future elections.
The CARICOM Observer team has been present since August 26, observing the electoral process. According to its Chief of Mission, Josephine Tamai, the size of the voters’ List was a primary concern raised by the majority of stakeholders, including political parties engaged by the Mission.
In addition to the names of eligible voters residing in Guyana, the List of Electors, which totals over 757,000 names, also includes the names of Guyanese living abroad and those of deceased persons.
GECOM, in its meetings with the observer team, explained that the names of Guyanese residing overseas cannot be removed from the List of Electors. Legal provisions are in place to remove the names of deceased individuals, with assistance from the General Registration Office, the Guyana Police Force, and the Ministry of Health.
Tamai was keen on pointing out that, according to the last census report, the country has approximately 800,000 people; however, the voters’ List has more than 750,000 persons listed. She said it is clear to see that from those numbers, the List is high.
“GECOM informed us that persons not residing in Guyana cannot just simply be removed from the Voters’ List, and so, in terms of that, one of the recommendations in terms of cleaning of the Voters’ List would be that they could either look at a possible re-registration of voters. They could also do more work in terms of getting deceased persons off the List, and like I mentioned earlier, the complaint is that despite information being sent to GECOM, some of those names remain on the List,” the CEOM Chief of Mission said.
Tamai, who is the Chief Elections Officer in Belize, said an extensive exercise needs to be done to remove, in particular, the names of dead people from the Voters’ List.
However, she said, while the Elections Secretariat is critical to the process, Guyanese also have a role to play in helping to clean the List.
“I also want to encourage citizens of Guyana as well that if you have persons in your family who are deceased, to take in the information to GECOM’s office, and to assist in terms of that process, that would help in terms of trying to clean that list, but as I mentioned a re-registration would help in that process,” she said.
The composition of GECOM and the need for Campaign Financing Legislation were among other issues raised by stakeholders during their engagements with the CARICOM Election Observer Mission ahead of Monday’s elections.
A final report from the team is expected in the coming weeks.
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