GECOM decides on 42 days for claims and objections

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has decided that the current Claims and Objections period will last for 42 days as opposed to 35 which was initially agreed at its September 24 statutory meeting.

Moments after exiting the meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Government nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander said at the time of the previous decision, the Commission had projected that elections would have been at the end of February.

“The President [David Granger] having announced the 2^nd of March [for elections] in some regards, gave us some leeway…the fact of the matter is that the change of the period did not fly in the face of any fundamental things,” Alexander said.

“This change of time does not interfere with the overall framework within which we operate. It just seeks to use time…the more time we have to do Claims and Objections, the greater is the opportunity for people out there –the electorate –to be able to get their names onto the list,” he added.

The Opposition nominated commissioners were against this change not only because it was gazette before reaching the commission but also because they had initially voted for a shorter period of 28 days.

The commission will meet again on Friday to determine how it will use the information from the house-to-house registration process which concluded in August.