GECOM rejects jaguar as WIN’s party symbol

Last Updated on Saturday, 28 June 2025, 10:49 by Writer

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Friday decided to block Azruddin Mohamed’s We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party from using the jaguar as its symbol on the ballot paper to contest the September 1 general and regional elections, opposition-nominated Election Commissioner Vincent Alexander said. 

Ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)-nominated Election Commissioner, Sase Gunraj confirmed that that was the decision taken by the seven-member Commission at its meeting earlier Friday.

Mr Gunraj told Demerara Waves Online News that, “After discussion on the concerns regarding the use of Indigenous symbols by political parties, the Chair (Retired Justice Claudette Singh) ruled that pursuant to Article 7 of the Constitution of Guyana, the supreme law, which outlines the duty of citizens to respect national symbols, the use of the Jaguar which is part of the Coat of Arms, is not acceptable.”

The commission was split three for the jaguar and three against, plus the Chairman’s ruling against.

Mr Alexander said Justice Singh contended that the image of the jaguar is a part of the Coat of Arms and as a consequence it cannot be used as a symbol.

Mr Alexander objected, saying that without any reference to the solemnity of the use of the jaguar as a symbol, it is beyond reason or logic for the Chair to have concluded that an element of the Coat of Arms, the jaguar, is what the Constitution meant when it specified the Court of Arms, among other national symbols. “If an element was meant, then there is much to be undone, since other elements of the Coat of Arms, such as the pick-axe, the Canje Pheasant and Victoria Regia, among others, are frequently used by various organizations, including political parties, and on various occasions, he added.

The GECOM Commissioner said GECOM has once again demonstrated its ineptitude, and probably its bias, in determining that the symbol submitted by the party “We Invest in Nationhood” be denied. The Chairperson specifically stated that based on article 7 of the Constitution: “It is the duty of every citizen of Guyana wherever he or she may be and of every person in Guyana to respect the national flag, the coat of arms, the national anthem, the national pledge and the Constitution of Guyana, and to treat them with due and proper solemnity on all occasions”.

Mr Alexander also noted that Friday’s decision was made against the background of the Government Appointed Commissioners’ attribution of intellectual property rights, of the image of the jaguar, to the Amerindians, purportedly in keeping with the provisions of international conventions, and the arguments presented by the chairperson of the National Toshaos Council, and Mr. Shuman, in their respective letters. “This attribution effectively bastardised the concept of intellectual property, the core of which is the originality of an idea or invention.,” he added.