News Source Guyana Reports : The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has announced that seven political parties have successfully submitted their Lists of Candidates for the upcoming elections. This follows a prior submission of political symbols from 21 parties, with only seven advancing to nomination day.
Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud reported that the nomination process was executed smoothly, allowing each party the opportunity to submit their lists for approval. “Now that the lists are in, the Elections Secretariat will begin processing and encoding them,” Persaud stated.
Parties will be contacted on Tuesday regarding any potential issues with their submitted lists, with a deadline to rectify these issues by the following day. “We are required to process these lists to ensure they meet statutory requirements. If they don’t, they will have the opportunity to correct any defects,” he explained.
Contestant parties could submit three separate lists: the Geographical Constituencies Lists, the National Top-up Lists, and the Regional Democratic Council Lists. However, to qualify for a seat in the National Assembly, parties must contest a minimum of six Geographical Constituencies, submitting both the Geographical Constituencies List and the National Top-up List.
Each list must include names of registered electors eligible for election and must be signed by between 150 and 175 nominators for each geographical constituency. The CEO emphasized the importance of compliance: “Nominators must be registered as electors and cannot be on another list or have signed for more than one list.”
The Election Secretariat is expected to complete the processing of these lists, with the seven-member Election Commission, led by Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, set to give approval by Friday.
Once approved, the Election Secretariat will begin printing ballots and other electoral materials in preparation for the September 1 elections. “We are moving to the designing of the ballot papers, which will be printed overseas while we handle logistical preparations,” Persaud noted.
The Disciplined Services will cast their ballots 10 days prior to the general elections. Persaud expressed confidence that all systems are in place for a free and fair electoral process, anticipating preliminary results to be available by the night of the election.
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