With General and Regional Elections fast approaching, the Alliance For Change (AFC) has issued a sharp rebuke of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and its Chairperson, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, over what it calls a “disturbing and dangerous” refusal to implement key electoral reforms recommended by international observer missions following the disputed 2020 polls.
In a strongly worded statement, the AFC said GECOM’s inaction threatens to erode public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, noting that many of the recommendations from bodies such as the Carter Centre, Organisation of American States (OAS), European Union (EU), and the Commonwealth remain untouched.
These fundamental recommendations were well articulated to ensure the challenges and errors of the 2020 elections debacle would not be repeated, the party said. Yet “GECOM seems ready to go forward to the 2025 elections which much of the previous errors and challenges unresolved.”
Among the most glaring omissions, the AFC pointed to the failure to undertake house-to-house registration, update the aging voters list, introduce technological safeguards for result tabulation, and ensure stakeholder inclusion and transparency.
The party revealed that during a recent meeting with the European Union elections exploratory mission, it was confirmed that only two of the EU’s 26 recommendations had been implemented—five years later.
To make matters worse, the AFC said it has received no follow-up from GECOM since a meeting earlier this year in which it raised several issues, including the continued use of private residences as polling stations, the absence of campaign finance regulation, and a troubling lack of regular engagement with political stakeholders.
GTUC Joins Call for Urgent Electoral Reforms
Adding weight to the AFC’s concerns, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) last month also sounded the alarm, echoing criticism of GECOM’s failure to act on reform measures necessary to guarantee free, fair, and credible elections.
The GTUC cited a growing list of concerns, chief among them the alarming figures in the recently released preliminary voters list for 2025, which includes 738,484 names—shockingly close to Guyana’s entire estimated population of 750,000 to 780,000.
According to the GTUC, the problem lies not just in the numbers but in ongoing irregularities in voter registration. One glaring example, the union noted, is an unexplained spike in registered voters at a single address in Ogle.
In Polling Division #414115, located at Ogle Sugar Estate, East Coast Demerara, the number of voters reportedly rose from just nine (9) in 2020 to a staggering 119 in 2025. Of those, 110 newly registered voters are listed under the same address: Lot 5A, Ogle.
The GTUC warns that the incident points to either gross incompetence or deliberate manipulation, both of which are unacceptable in a democracy. Like the AFC, the GTUC has called for a comprehensive overhaul of the process.
The GTUC also underscored the need for constitutional and electoral reform, noting that these measures were recommended by international observers to address political polarisation and institutional weaknesses in GECOM itself.
Both the AFC and GTUC argue that time is running out for meaningful change. They have called on GECOM and its Chairperson to break their silence, re-engage stakeholders, and prioritise reforms that will safeguard Guyana’s democracy.
The credibility of the next election, and of the Elections Commission itself, is at stake.
