The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has unanimously voted not to extend the period to sanitize the preliminary voters list.

The Claims and Objections period began on May 9. The claims period will end on June 9 and the period for objections will conclude on June 12.

The period specified in the order for the hearings-aspect of Claims and Objections exercise is May 16 to June 27.

A GECOM official told demwaves.com that the decision not to extend the deadline was unanimously taken by the seven-member commission at a statutory meeting on Tuesday.

Little more than 452,000 persons are listed on the preliminary voters list, officially called the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) so far. The National Register of Registrants, which includes persons 14 to 17 years old, contains just over 490,000 names.

Demwaves.com was told that the commission decided to discuss whether or not the deadline should have been extended because the main opposition Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) had been enquiring whether there would be a facility in a place for persons who would have acquired their birth certificates from the General Registrar’s Office.

GECOM, during the 2008 house to house registration process, had tallied 38,000 persons who could not have registered because they had no birth certificates or valid passports.
But officials believe that number might have been mopped up because at least 73,000 more persons have been registered during the Claims and Objections period for the now cancelled Local Government Elections, the second cycle of continuous registration and this Claims and Objections period.