By Jomo Paul
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield has suggested that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) conduct a recount of registration offices after the Party accused GECOM of being biased.
General Secretary of the PPP, Clement Rohee at a press conference on February 11 said the Party has noticed that general large communities have a lesser amount of registration offices; however the same amount can be found within smaller communities along the East Bank corridor.
According to Rohee, GECOM identified offices for the Claims and Objections reflect a clear “bias and lack of objectivity.”
Another office is in Mocha but none for Little Diamond, Herstelling and Providence where the voting population is in excess of five times that of Mocha.
Further there are thirteen offices in South Georgetown, while there are only four offices in North Georgetown,” he said.
But according to Lowenfield, who spoke to iNews in an exclusive interview on Saturday, Rohee might have miscounted when he delivered the statement to the media.
“If you check the list and check the order that we have published stating where the locations are, I don’t think the reportage from the PPP is entirely accurate; they have missed a few registration offices…”
The GECOM official pointed out too that the Commission has a permanent office in Diamond which is merely a stone’s throw away from Little Diamond.
He said that the same office has been utilized by the electorate over the years and there is no reason to stop now.
Meanwhile, Lowenfield told iNews that coming out of the first week of the Claims and Objections period; close to 3000 transactions have already been undertaken.
He said that those transactions include transfers, new Identification Cards and objections to persons being on the list among other issues.
He said that the process is “bearing the fruit that is desired” noting that large amounts of people are coming out particularly in the hinterland areas.
The Claims period will allow eligible electors who meet the specific requirements to gain entry onto the Primary list of Electors, (PLE) securing them their voting rights.
Anyone who will be 18 years or older by April 30, 2015 – who is not registered will be allowed to do so during this period.
This period also provides a window of opportunity to persons already registered who are desirous of having changes and/or have corrections made to their registration information currently entered on the Preliminary Voters List.
