GECOM’s house-to-house registration which was slated to begin on June 1, 2019 has been delayed, according to Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Warde.
However, she was unable to say what are the reasons for the delay. “It is engaging the attention of the Commission,” she told INews.
Even with an impending court ruling which could trigger early elections in the country, GECOM is forging ahead with house-to-house registration, which can last as long as nine months.
With the delayed start, the exercise can take much longer to conclude and it might even result in the organisation being unable to honour the court ruling, if it is mandated for elections to be held promptly.
The issue was first raised by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo at a press conference earlier today.
Some 5,000 persons were set to be trained and according to GECOM’s PRO, that exercise is already completed.
GECOM and the government have been arguing that house-to-house registration is necessary to update the voters’ list which expired at the end of April 2019.
However, GECOM’s legal officer Excellence Dazzle has since submitted a legal opinion, contending that house-to-house is not necessary.
She advised that another less time-consuming process can be utilized, in accordance with the law, to update the list.
