Duarte Hetsberger, whose career spans classrooms in Region One and senior posts within the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), has publicly declared his support for Azruddin Mohamed and the WIN (We Invest in Nationhood) party. In doing so he paints his decision as rooted in years of public service and a desire to see systems protect ordinary citizens. Supporters and some commentators say his emergence into partisan politics follows episodes in which he was targeted, alleging political victimisation by the PPP-led administration.
Hetsberger’s biographical arc is familiar to many Guyanese. Trained at the Cyril Potter College of Education, he spent years teaching in remote schools, confronting overcrowded classrooms and resource shortages that shape the daily realities of teachers and pupils outside Georgetown. He later joined GECOM, serving at times as a personal assistant to the Chief Election Officer and taking on the duties of Returning Officer for the capital. Those roles, he says, required exactitude, logistical skill and collaboration with security agencies to protect electoral materials — experience he now points to as preparing him for public life beyond the commission.
His move into open political endorsement is not without recent controversy. In March 2020 GECOM publicly disowned an email that purportedly came from Hetsberger and made inflammatory claims about tampering with electoral records. The commission labelled that correspondence inauthentic and characterised it as a malicious attempt to discredit and confuse the public. Hetsberger was cleared of any such act by the commission’s statement, yet the episode remains part of his public record and is cited by allies who argue it exemplifies a pattern of politically motivated attacks.
Observers note that his support for Mohamed — a businessman-turned-candidate whom Hetsberger praises for community patronage and service — signals an alignment with a campaign that promises practical change and attention to underserved groups: single parents, young people struggling to find work and families seeking dependable public services. Hetsberger frames his endorsement as the culmination of service-minded work, saying he wants governance that translates into tangible improvements for ordinary households.
Critics, typically aligned with the established parties, have reacted with scepticism, suggesting the timing and rhetoric are calculated for electoral advantage. Conversely, backers paint Hetsberger as another public servant who has been pushed into the political spotlight by what they describe as continued harassment from the PPP administration.
Whether Hetsberger’s shift will sway voters, particularly in the constituencies where he once taught and administered electoral processes, will be tested at the ballot box. For now, his narrative — from schoolrooms to the inner workings of the elections body and into partisan life — adds another chapter to the evolving story of civic contestation in our country, reflecting wider anxieties about governance, fairness and the safeguarding of democratic institutions.
