ELECTION WATCH: LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS Claims and Objections Exercise ongoing

TheGuyana Elections Commission (GECOM) commenced the preparation of Registers of Voters, for the conduct of Local Government Elections, on Monday (February 13, 2023). In this regard, Offices of Assistant Electoral Registrars (AERs) have been established in each of the eighty (80) Local Authority Area (LAA).

During this exercise, any person who will be 18 years and older by the 22nd May, 2023, and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, or naturalization, or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more, can make a Claim to entry on the Register of Voters (RoV)on or before 19th February, 2023 providing that he/she is not listed in the Preliminary List of Voters (PLV), which have been posted in every Constituency in the respective Local Authority Areas.

Persons desirous of making a Claim to be included in the RoV are required to visit the Office of the Assistant Electoral Registrar (AER) responsible for the Local Authority Area where they reside with the required source document(s) such as original Birth Certificate, valid Passport, Adoption Certificate, or Naturalization Certificate / Certificate of Registration, to be registered for inclusion.

Existing registrants are also advised to check the PLV posted at two (2) prominent locations in each constituency in the respective Local Authority Area, at the

Offices of the Electoral Registrars and Assistant Electoral Registrars, or on GECOM’s website at www.gecom.org. gy to verify the existence/ accuracy of their registration information in the PLV.

Persons who need to update their registration records e.g. change or correction to their names and occupation, or to apply for a transfer if they have changed their addresses since they were registered, are advised that they can apply for such transactions during this exercise.

The relevant source documents such as an original Marriage Certificate, Deed Poll with Birth Certificate, or a new Birth Certificate reflecting the changes must be presented in the case of an application for a change or correction.

Objections against the inclusion of names in the PLV can be tendered to the Assistant Electoral Registrar (AER) of the LAA from 13th February, 2023 to 22nd February, 2023. Objections can be made by a Voter who is listed in the same constituency list in which the person being objected to is listed. Objections can also be made by accredited Scrutineers of Political Parties provided that any such Scrutineer must be accredited to the LAA in which the person being objected to is listed. The relevant original document(s) such as an original Death Certificate must be presented at the time of the hearing of objections to support the basis upon which the objection is made.

In view of the foregoing, it must be emphasized that while the Continuous Registration Exercise and the Claims and Objections Exercise are being conducted simultaneously, persons who are now registering for the first time and would be eligible to vote at the upcoming Local Government Elections must visit the Office of the AER in the LAA where they reside in order for their names to be included on the RoV for this election. Similarly, persons who are required to have changes or corrections done to their particulars as stated on the PLV and make objections to the inclusion of names on the list must also visit the Office of the AER in the LAA where they reside in order for the corrections to reflected on the official ROV.

The Commission is urging all eligible persons who would be eligible to vote at the upcoming Local Government Elections, but are not listed in the PLV, to use this opportunity to get registered for inclusion in the RoV to qualify to vote at the elections.

Persons are also encouraged to object to the inclusion of the name of any person who they believe do not meet the eligibility criteria to be in the list.

For more information and for details on the location of the respective offices, persons can visit GECOM’s website at www.gecom.org.gy or call 225-0277-9 / 223-9653.