The Carter Center has issued a call for an independent audit of Guyana’s Official List of Electors (OLE), citing persistent concerns over the integrity of the roll and the slow implementation of legal reforms intended to remove deceased persons from the registry.
In its final report, the Carter Center provided an assessment of the nation’s electoral framework highlighting that while new laws have empowered the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to clean the list, significant gaps remain regarding the diaspora and the operationalization of these new powers.
The Center noted that historically, names could only be removed upon the presentation of a death certificate, a process often hindered by bureaucracy and GECOM’s limited access to official data. Recent legal amendments now allow GECOM to act on a wider range of documentation, including reports from the General Registry Office, the Commissioner of Police, and the Chief Medical Officer.
However, the report suggests these tools are not being fully utilized.
“Though the recent reforms are welcome, they have not been fully implemented,” the Center stated. “Stakeholders reported that information received via these channels is frequently insufficient to identify voters with full confidence, and the commission has not agreed upon an effective modality to fully operationalize the new provisions.”
The report further identified a critical blind spot, the Guyanese diaspora. Currently, no mechanism exists to remove voters who die overseas, nor for those in remote villages where deaths may go unregistered.
Commonwealth Voters Controversy
The integrity of the list was further scrutinized regarding the eligibility of Commonwealth citizens. Under the Constitution, these individuals can vote if they are 18, registered, and have lived in Guyana for one year prior to the qualifying date.
During the recent electoral cycle, this provision became a flashpoint for controversy. Multiple opposition parties alleged that the incumbent government utilized the “generous provision” to register foreign workers on government contracts. According to GECOM data provided to the Center, the OLE contains approximately 2,000 Commonwealth citizens, roughly half of whom were registered before the 2020 elections.
Recommendations for Transparency
Despite concerns over the list’s size, the Carter Center commended the “strong procedures” currently in place to prevent multiple voting. Observers reported no attempts at double voting on election day, noting that safeguards were “well-implemented.” To bridge the trust deficit, the Center is urging GECOM to conduct a “list-to-people” audit, similar to the one performed prior to the 1992 elections. This would involve testing a statistically relevant sample of names to verify the status of registrants. “The integrity of Guyana’s voter list has long been a source of tension and debate… and is often a primary factor influencing confidence in electoral processes,” the Center observed.
Additional recommendations include publishing the OLE with extra fields, such as gender and the total number of Commonwealth citizens, as well as developing systems to track and remove voters who have died abroad. The Center further recommended establishing clear protocols to use quarterly reports from medical and police authorities effectively.
The Carter Center has been a fixture in Guyana’s democratic landscape since 1992, observing five major elections and supporting judicial reforms and transparency initiatives like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
