House-to-House Registration… Dead persons on voters’ list inconsequential – Former GECOM Chairman
Jan 22, 2019 , By Kiana Wilburg, Kaieteur News, https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...rmer-gecom-chairman/
It is important for Guyana to have house-to-house registration. But given the special circumstances, the country now finds itself in, it would not be a matter of life and death if it is not conducted.
This is the informed viewpoint of former Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally. He was at the time sharing his perspective on whether house-to-house registration is absolutely necessary before the political parties head into the next General and Regional Elections.
To provide context for ensuing discussion, the former GECOM Chairman was informed by this newspaper that some persons believe that the list is overdue for a renewal so that the names of dead persons can be removed as well as those who are living abroad.
It was also brought to his attention that some individuals hold the view that if this is not done, then it leaves scope for corrupted elections.
Former GECOM Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally
Dr. Surujbally said he agrees with both observations. He noted however, “Dead people won’t be able to rig the elections.”
The former GECOM Chairman said that there are simply too many checks and balances in place to inhibit such efforts. Dr. Surujbally said that even if some are successful in trying to use the name of a dead person to cast a vote, it would have to be a “massive number of people doing so, and that is just not possible.”
“After lots of deliberations, GECOM had decided a long time ago that the list would be sanitized or renewed every seven years. But this is an expensive process. It takes six months. The last one we did started in January 2008 and ended June of that year. And there are a lot of factors that have to be looked at during that process… This includes fingerprints and the facial recognition part of the process…And there is data on the registration form, which has to be checked…”
Dr. Surujbally added, “But while this is an important process, it is not a life and death situation that you have to have it…So many countries do not do it before elections…In our case, you can use the list we have…You can even have a claims and objections period which takes about 10 to 14 days if my memory serves me right. So, while I agree with the observation that there are names of dead people on the list which need to be removed, that can be done during the claims and objections period…”
And even if all the persons are not removed from the list and there are a few slips, Dr. Surujbally said that at the various polling stations, there would be several officials armed with all the data they need to verify whether a person is who he or she claims to be.
PARTIES DIVIDED
For the last two weeks, the political parties have been divided on the necessity of house-to-house registration before the next elections. The Government says the list of voters has to be sanitized to remove the names of dead people and to include the names of individuals who are now turning 18.
But Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo contends that this is just a frustration tactic. He believes all the dead people could be cleared out from the list within two weeks and Guyana could get on with the business of holding elections.
GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander
During an invited comment, GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, had said that the sanitization of the list goes beyond the dead. He told this newspaper that the list is bloated with persons who are no longer living here. And if this is not dealt with, he said it leaves scope for corrupted elections. Alexander also said that the list should have been sanitized a long time ago, but funds were not available to facilitate this process.
“For the last few years, we wanted to do it, but we did not get the funding, hence it was not done. In this year’s budget, we have gotten the resources, so basically what GECOM wants to do is what should be done as a matter of course… So forget all the questions. This is a basic procedure that should be undertaken periodically. And the period we defined is seven years and we have gone past seven…”
In addition to that routine exercise, Alexander shared that concerns were raised about the population having 750, 000 people while the voters’ list is 500,000-plus. He said this clearly means that the list has an excess of the real resident voting population.
“It therefore means that we may have dead people and I would argue the case that the majority of the excess is not dead people. The dead people are a minor number of the excess …The number of excess people on the list seems to be overseas Guyanese. Having excess people on the list leaves scope for corrupted elections. If you get the identification card of that person, you can get someone else to vote for them so there is a window for corrupted elections if you leave those names on the list.”
…BUT LIST WAS VALID FOR LGE
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo had also contended that there is no need for the house-to-house registration since the government and the PPP had agreed on the said list being used for Local Government Elections. Jagdeo said that the list is valid until April 30.
But Alexander said that this argument does not hold any weight. He said there was no money voted for GECOM to sanitize the list. He said, therefore, that GECOM did not have a choice but to go forward with the list.
AND THE 90 DAY DEADLINE?
Jagdeo has also argued that if house-to-house registration is conducted, it would prevent elections from being held by the Constitutional deadline of March 19, which kicked in when the No-Confidence Motion was carried on December 21, 2018.
But Alexander finds this view to be flawed. He noted that the Constitution clearly states that the deadline can be extended by the National Assembly with a two-thirds majority.
Article 106 (7) of the Constitution states, “Notwithstanding its defeat, the Government shall remain in office and shall hold an election within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine, and shall resign after the President takes the oath of office following the election.”
Alexander said therefore that there is no looming constitutional crisis that would occur if GECOM needs time to do house-to-house registration, which would go past the 90 days that is being spoken of by Jagdeo.
“The Constitution says that a date can be set by the House using a two-thirds majority. That is why both sides have appointed a representative to speak with GECOM, because it is our advice that would inform the deadline.”