The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) says that while it is pleased that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and various stakeholders are engaged in a process to update and sanitise the List of Registered Electors, it has noticed some inaccuracies with the list of persons who have died but whose names are not on the List of Registered Electors.
One of the tasks undertaken by GECOM and stakeholders is to cleanse the list of deceased persons, based upon information generated by the General Registrar’s Office (GRO), which is responsible for the issuance of Certificates of Death.
According to the PPP, GECOM issued five Lists of Persons who have died between December 2015, and March 2016. One of the Lists is of persons who have died but whose names are not on the List of Registered Electors (persons who never registered).
The political party said it “conducted a review of this particular list and to our surprise, we discovered a significant number of names which are in fact on the List of Registered Electors. This list is, therefore, not accurate. As a result, the names of deceased persons will continue to be on the List of Registered Electors.”
The removal of names of persons who have died from the List of Registered Electors is, according to the PPP, a responsibility of GECOM and is guided by strict laws and rules.
“Only on the basis of a certified list of persons who have died, issued by the GRO, can GECOM remove a person’s name. It is, therefore, imperative that we emphasise that names cannot be removed from the list on the ground that persons are dead, unless confirmation is received from the GRO” said the political Opposition.
In the circumstances highlighted above, the PPP says it is calling on GECOM to “exercise greater care and due diligence in their attempts to sanitise the list. We will continue to partner with GECOM and other stakeholders, in a concerted effort, to produce a List of Registered Electors that is accurate and whose integrity can withstand objective scrutiny.”
