President Irfaan Ali has announced that Guyana’s 13th Parliament will be convened on Monday, November 3, 2025. The announcement, made on Thursday, comes despite the fact that the results of the September 1, 2025 General and Regional Elections have not yet been certified.
Both the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government and the incoming Opposition—which includes We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) with 16 seats, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) with 12 seats, and the Forward Guyana Movement with one—have been criticised for their inaction on this matter.
Analysts contend that the apparent non-compliance with critical sections of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) benefits the governing PPP, which secured victory in an election that international observers have not described as free and fair.
Opposition-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander has been vocal in his criticism, repeatedly calling national attention to what he describes as a flagrant breach of Sections 96 and 99 of ROPA—provisions necessary to finalise the elections.
Section 96(1) specifically states:
“The Chief Election Officer shall, after calculating the total number of valid votes of electors which have been cast for each list of candidates, on the basis of the votes counted and the information furnished by returning officers, ascertain the result of the election.”
Section 98 further provides that:
“As soon as practicable, but not later than fifteen days after election day, the Commission shall publicly declare the results of the election and cause to be published in the Gazette a notification thereof, specifying the number of votes cast for each list of candidates, the number of rejected ballot papers, the number of seats allocated to each list of candidates, and the names of the persons who have become members of the National Assembly.”
The Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud is responsible for submitting a detailed report showing the breakdown of votes allocated to each contesting party. The Commissioners are then required to review these reports, address any discrepancies, and collectively sign off on the results. This report determines not only which party forms the Executive but also the allocation of seats in both the National Assembly and the Regional Democratic Councils.
Commissioner Alexander has previously exposed similar irregularities. In 2011, he caught then-CEO Goocool Boodhoo attempting to allocate a seat meant for APNU to the PPP—a move that would have altered the parliamentary balance. In that election cycle Boodhoo changed the formula for the allocation of seats. The discovery ensured that the combined Opposition maintained control of the National Assembly.
Similarly, in 2006, Boodhoo was accused of transferring a Region 10 seat from the Alliance for Change (AFC) to the PPP. Although the AFC was advised to challenge the matter in court, their petition was dismissed in 2010 for procedural non-compliance.
A former senior GECOM official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the current non-submission of the CEO’s report as “something never seen before.” The official suggested that while some blame lies with GECOM Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh, for focusing on internal Opposition dynamics rather than the certification process, the fact remains that a crucial legal step has not been completed.
“The process is not complete,” the officer stressed. “The report has to be submitted, the Commissioners must meet as a body and certify the results before they are published.” The officer added that Alexander’s argument is that although results have been gazetted, “the Commission as a body has never met to certify the result before it was gazetted.”
Observers have expressed growing concern over what they describe as the Opposition’s silence in the face of this “egregious violation.” Some suggest the Opposition may be reeling from its electoral defeat and distracted by internal wrangling, disputes over Commissioner appointments and calls for GECOM reform—while overlooking a serious procedural issue unfolding in plain sight.
One political analyst warned that the likely incoming Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed, must “get up to speed on matters of governance and start speaking to these dire issues,” as the legitimacy of the electoral process—and by extension, Parliament itself—hangs in the balance.
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