PNCR not concerned about possible duplicates on new voters list

The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Friday said it fully supports the merging of data from the ongoing House to House registration exercise with the existing database.

At a press conference held at Congress Place, Sophia, Greater Georgetown, PNCR General Secretary, Amna Ally when asked about the concerns raised about duplicates being on the National Register of Registrants (NRR) database, said: “I think GECOM [Guyana Elections Commission] has a right to implement whatever process they have to implement in order to produce a credible list…GECOM has to know what they are going to do by putting the two together in order to come up with a credible list.”

Chairman of GECOM, Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh on Tuesday decided to end the registration exercise prematurely on August 31.

However, she said the data garnered from House-to-House Registration will be merged with existing the NRR database since the High Court ruled on August 14 that the process is not illegal or unconstitutional.

“I think the Chairman of GECOM has made the correct decision,” Ally said.

Ally said a credible list is all that her party cares about.

The PNCR has been in support of the registration exercise which was scheduled to end on October 20 as a means of sanitizing the voters list.

Reading from a prepared statement, the PNCR General Secretary said “the PNCR will continue to advocate for a credible list of electors. Guyanese need a voters list they can trust; to hold elections they can trust, to give them a government they can trust. This is central to our democracy and our future.”

GECOM said it will launch an extended extensive Claims and Objections (C&O) exercise.

Ally told the news conference that the PNCR will use the proposed extended claims and objections period to “rigorously peruse and where necessary further sanitize the new list of electors.”

She said the Government is full election mode but it is up to GECOM to decide when to hold elections.

Opposition nominated Commissioner, Robeson Benn however said the process will further delay the holding of General and Regional Elections as some names will be duplicated on the list.

This argument was further advanced by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo at a press conference on Thursday who noted that this will result in elections being delayed for another three months.

The GECOM Chairman on Thursday met with members of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) as part of engagements ahead of the holding of elections.