Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Retired Justice Claudette Singh has declared that constitutional reform is needed in order for the Commission to clean the present voters’ list and introduce biometrics into the voting process.
She made this remark during a press conference on Friday, where the Elections Commission gave an overview of the recently concluded Local Government Elections (LGE).
The GECOM Chair was at the time responding, for the first time, to mounting calls by the PNC-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Opposition for these two actions to be taken. In fact, the Opposition has been staging weeks of protests outside of GECOM’s head office to push for a clean voters’ list, claiming that the list in its current form is bloated.
But Justice Singh reminded of the August 2019 ruling by Chief Justice Roxane George, who ruled that the name of a person cannot be removed from the National Register of Registrants (NRR) from which GECOM prepares the voters’ list. The only exception for the removal of names from the NRR database is death.
Additionally, the Chief Justice had also ruled that residency is not a requirement for Guyanese citizens to be qualified to register and vote.
On this note, the GECOM Chair contended that “…it is pellucidly clear that even if you are a Guyanese citizen living abroad, GECOM cannot move your name from the Register of Registrants because of the fact that you’re living overseas.”
Moreover, Justice Singh pointed out that there has been a “clamour for the introduction of biometrics at the place of poll” – something which she, again, dismissed based on the 2001 ruling in the Esther Perreira case, which she had adjudicated then as a High Court Judge. In that matter, she had ruled that the requirement of an Identification (ID) card to vote was unconstitutional.
Similarly, Justice Singh explained that the introduction of biometrics would disenfranchise voters if they were to refuse to participate in the process.
“This will take us back…,” she pointed out, adding that “To remove a person’s name from the voters’ list on the grounds of residency and the introduction of biometrics will necessitate an amendment to the Constitution… GECOM does not have the legal parameters to do this.”
The GECOM Chair pointed out that the Guyana Government, through the Attorney General, has announced plans for a constitutional reform process. In fact, the Constitution Reform Commission Bill 2022 was passed in the National Assembly in November 2022, clearing the way for the establishment of a 20-member Constitutional Reform Commission.
In Budget 2023, some $150 million was earmarked for constitutional reform efforts and the establishment of the Constitutional Reform Commission this year.
Nevertheless, Justice Singh further emphasised that GECOM has the necessary safeguards in place at the place of polls to prevent any skullduggery.
Flagging names
However, while the Elections Commission cannot remove voters’ names from the list based on residency, it can strike off the names of those registered persons who have died.
Following amendments to the National Registration Act Chapter 19:08 last year, GECOM is now statutorily required to receive, on a monthly basis, a list of those persons who are registered as deceased from the General Register Office.
That list, according to Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO) Aneal Giddings, is then used by GECOM to identify those dead persons on the NRR Database.
“Since my time here, we go through a process of ensuring or verifying their existence on the National Register [of Registrants], and using that document, we would flag them as deceased. That is actually the process that obtains currently as regards removal [of names from the NRR], and that is the legal way; it’s the only way persons are removed from the National Register of Registrants,” he explained.
According to the DCEO, this cleansing process is done roughly on a monthly basis and GEOCM is not required to publicise how many names of dead persons have been removed.
Meanwhile, it was also announced on Friday that the Elections Commission will resume the Continuous Registration Exercise in July for eligible persons at all of its permanent Registration Offices across the 10 administrative regions in Guyana.
According to Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud, this round of registration exercise will commence on July 4 and run until November 30, 2023.
