Commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Vincent Alexander, has confirmed that general and regional elections can be held this year if the body goes forward with a period of claims and objections. In fact, he is “hopeful” that this is the case.
Alexander made this known during an interview with the Guyana Standard a few moments ago. This news agency asked Alexander what is going to be the way forward now that Head of State, President David Granger, has urged that there be preparations for the polls.
According to Alexander, if GECOM decides to do claims and objections, elections can be held this year. The GECOM Commissioner said, “I am still hopeful that we can have elections this year. This is on the grounds that we should do [it] as quickly as we can, as best as we can.”
He further said, “In some regard, GECOM has been preparing…It was not a directive. It was advice he [President Granger] gave. His directive is about a date and once you have a date, there is a limit to what you can do.”
Meanwhile, the Guyana Standard reminded Alexander of the vote taken for GECOM to go forward with its 2019 work programme which includes house-to-house registration. Considering the President’s advice, he was asked to say if greater focus will now be on house-to-house registration for elections.
Alexander said, “GECOM’s administration presented us with an optional plan yesterday [February 26] and we are meeting tomorrow [February 28] to discuss that. The plan is about house-to-house and claims and objections. The 2019 work programme also includes claims and objections. There was no definitive statement about either of the two…We will consider which one of the two we will do, tomorrow.”
