“Get registered” – PNC Chair to Guyanese on GECOM’s continuous registration

In light of the commencement of Continuous Registration this week by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), the People’s National Congress Reform has called on Guyanese to ensure that they get registered.
PNCR Chairman, Shurwayne Holder expressed during a press conference on Tuesday that GECOM should fulfil the mandate of ensuring that the registration process is conducted in all regions to the full satisfaction of applicants.
“We urge all eligible Guyanese to get registered by visiting the GECOM registration office in their area with the relevant source documents. First time applicants during the 2019 House-to-House Registration have to now reapply from scratch. Get registered,” he urged.
This process is necessary process in updating the List of Electors and paving the way for the holding of Local Government Elections (LGE). GECOM has 28 permanent Registration Offices located in all of the ten administrative regions.
According to GECOM, this registration exercise is of crucial importance to first time applicants, regarded as those persons who would have been 14 to 18 years of age, that were captured during the 2019 House-to-House Registration.
Any person, who will be 14 years or older by October 31, 2022, and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, naturalisation or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more can apply for registration, providing he or she was never registered before.
They are required to visit the GECOM Registration Office responsible for their area of residence with the relevant source documents: original birth certificate, valid passport, adoption certificate or naturalisation certificate in the case of new registration. The registration exercise will conclude on May 29, 2022.
Over $750 million has been set aside in Budget 2022 for the preparations to be undertaken by GECOM for the hosting of LGE this year. This money is part of an overall $4.1 billion allocation to GECOM in Budget 2022 and was examined and approved by the National Assembly during its consideration of the 2022 Budget Estimates.

Replacement
Meanwhile, Joseph Harmon’s resignation as a Member of Parliament takes effect this month, but the party still has a list of possible candidates to shortlist before making a final decision.
Holder said that there is a “long list” of persons which can possibly replace Harmon in the National Assembly. No one has been shortlisted as of now and he could not indicate how many persons are being considered for the position.
“It’s a process. We have to wait until Mr Harmon resigns and we’ll take it from there. As I have said, we have a number of names, a long list. In terms of who goes to Parliament, the Central Executive has got to make that decision. We have to discuss internally and come up with the most suitable person. There will be no discrimination in that process,” the Chairman told the media.
The PNCR has said that it has already engaged other parties in the A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) and its coalition partner, the Alliance For Change on the ascension of PNC Leader Aubrey Norton as the Opposition Leader.
“The party had made a decision that the party leader will become the Leader of the Opposition. This is where we are with that…It’s a process and much of it is in the public domain already. We had consultations with APNU and AFC. As far as I am concerned, that’s a done deal. We await March 31 when there is a vacancy and then we take it from there,” the Chairman divulged. (G12)