| Revelations by the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr Steve Surujbally, that the low number of registrants emanating from the House to House registration process may be reflective of the reality of potential registrants due to death or migration, was denounced as inexplicable. Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon made the comment yesterday during his weekly press briefing, reiterating that all previous projections have been based on figures tabulated by experts with decades of experience.“For the chairman to denounce the projections is inexplicable…We have always questioned the projections but we were always assured of its accuracy,” said Dr Luncheon.Dr Surujbally had announced that the numbers were not there in the first instance and that the 2006 polls vindicated that position given that Guyanese traditionally turned out in the high end of the scale (90 per cent) to vote.In 2006,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, only 69 per cent of the projected voters turned up at the polls. House to house registration ended last Friday but did not live up to the expectation that was encouraged by stakeholders, according to the Cabinet Secretary.He added that Cabinet, during its meeting on July 8, felt that the process was dogged by innumerable problems. He added that the critical issue now would be the handling of tens of thousands of unregistered persons who are expected to be included in the centre-based continuous registration process.He added that as it is, the country would have to wait and see how GECOM would handle the limitations of centre-based registration taking into consideration the fact that bona fide voters from previous elections lists have been excluded from registration or withdrew from process based on dissatisfaction and resent.On the questions of an extended period of house to house registration where GECOM officials would visit the homes of potential registrants, Dr Luncheon posited that it would be unlikely given that the previous decision for the house to house process followed by continuous registration was agreed to unanimously.“Cabinet recognises that continuous registration was being promoted as a tool to enfranchise outstanding registrants.”Dr Luncheon also raised the issue of an unexplained pattern of low and no registration in certain communities, noting also that the inefficiencies in the work of the commission has been claimed as sources for the apparent numbers of unregistered Guyanese.“Questions continue about projections used in estimating size of populations to be registered in Guyana.”The most recent figures originating from (GECOM) suggests that a total of 430,000 persons were registered during the house to house registration, which came to an end on July 4 last. GECOM was hoping to register some 535,000 persons, but this was not the case.Chairman of GECOM, Dr. Surujbally told this newspaper that the commission took the Official List of Electors (OLE) from the 2006 elections and added 20 per cent to it, which gave them the 535,000 figure, but according to Dr. Surujbally, only 69 per cent of the voters from the last elections turned up to vote. However, as it is, currently some persons are still complaining that they have not been registered by the Elections Commission.Close to 3,500 transactions were processed each day during the registration exercise. To assist in the process, GECOM had employed an additional 50 persons.The primary objective of the house to house registration exercise is to establish an accurate, complete and current National Register of Registrants’ Database (NRRDB).The imperative to conduct house-to-house registration was born out of the need for the creation of an indisputable NRRDB which could be used as the basis for the preparation of Electoral Lists that would be commonly acceptable by all stakeholders as being unblemished.With this in mind, the Government of Guyana, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the Parliamentary Political Parties agreed on June 14, 2007, to the preparation of a new NRRDB by house-to-house registration.GECOM is now expecting that the creation of this new database, which would lead to the establishment of future Electoral Lists, would be commonly acceptable by and among all political parties and other stakeholders. |
