As the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) seeks to verify the existence of some 20,000 persons who have not uplifted their identification cards over the past 11 years, it was revealed that Region Four has the highest number of uncollected cards.
GECOM on Sunday released a breakdown of the number of uncollected cards in relation to the various registration areas in the 10 administrative regions.
It highlighted that a whopping 9343 cards are yet to be uplifted from persons in Region Four since the 2008 House-to-House Registration (H2H) exercise.
The administrative region with the second-highest number is Region Six, where some 3267 persons are yet to uplift their ID cards.
This was followed by Region Three, which has 2401 cards to be uplifted. Uncollected ID cards in Region Five amounted to 1094.
Region 10 has a total of 776 ID cards that were not uplifted. Meanwhile, there are 548 uncollected cards in Region Two.
Region One recorded 313 cards yet to be claimed while there are 280 uncollected ID cards in Region Seven.
Additionally, Region Nine has 263 cards to be uplifted and finally, the region with the least number of uncollected ID cards with 124 is Region Eight.
GECOM had revealed that close to 20,000 ID cards have been uncollected since 2008 and as such, a decision was taken to remove the names of those persons if they do not verify their existence.
As part of its verification process, the Elections Commission started publishing the names of those persons who are yet to pick up their ID cards in the four national newspapers. It will also send, via registered post, a notice to them.
These persons will be given a 21-day period to go in and verify their existence, otherwise, their names will be removed from the Official List of Electors (OLE) for next year’s General and Regional Elections.
GECOM Chair (ret’d) Justice Claudette Singh has assured that these persons will be allowed to vote at next year’s March 2 General and Regional Elections once they have a valid form of identification such as a passport or birth certificate.
