As the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) Claims and Objections period continues, over 1700 citizens have already applied for their names to be included in the revised voters list.
The preliminary list of electors was published on December 24 and as a consequence, GECOM is currently conducting Claims and Objections.
During the period January 2 to January 15, claims can be made for persons to be included on the list.
The qualifying date for electors to be 18 years old, is December 31, 2024. This means that persons who have reached the age of 18 years and older as of December 31, 2024 and are Guyanese citizens by birth, descent or naturalisation or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more, are eligible to vote in this year’s General and Regional elections.
To date, over 1713 persons have applied to be included in the revised list of electors, according to GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward.
Meanwhile, during the claims and objections period, persons can also make objections to the preliminary voters list. The deadline for objections is January 22. Objections typically allow persons the opportunity to contest the inclusion of the names of any deceased individuals on the preliminary list.
GECOM has appointed January 25, 2025 as the day by which all forms of claims, objections, applications and decisions will be sent by the registration officers to the Commissioner of Registration.
Chief Elections Officer, Vishnu Persaud (CEO), will then begin hearing and determining appeals the very next day. Additionally, any changes to the preliminary list will be made by February 2, 2025.
Meanwhile, Ward told this publication that in addition to new registrants, GECOM has received 334 applications for transfer, 128 requests for changes and corrections to personal details, and 749 applications for replacement Identification cards.
Ward also disclosed that 92 individuals also applied for photo retakes, and only one formal objection has been registered so far.
“We have 29 offices countrywide. And so, the exercise is happening at all of our registration offices across the country. And today, the process has been smooth. There are no hiccups in the exercise,” Ward assured.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson further explained that once the Claims and Objections period concludes, the commission will move toward publishing the revised list of electors, which will reflect all updates made during this period.
“When the Claims and Objections exercise closes, as you know, the preliminary list is published right now, we will move into a revised list of electors, and then we will publish that official list of electors,” she noted.
“So, there is a process involved. So, when we publish the revised list of electors, all the transactions that were done during this period should be reflected there. We give people the opportunity to scrutinise to ensure that [it includes] the updates and all of that, and then we move towards producing that official list of electors,” Ward added.
For those unable to visit registration offices in person, GECOM has introduced an online query tool on its website, allowing citizens to check their registration information remotely.
General and Regional Elections are due this year.
