GECOM overturns rejection of WIN’s symbol after party’s explanation

Last Updated on Tuesday, 1 July 2025, 21:37 by Writer

Preempting the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) formal announcement on the status of political parties’ symbols on Tuesday, Leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Azruddin Mohamed on Sunday dispatched a letter to the election management authority saying that he had unintentionally stated publicly that his symbol was a jaguar.

“However, in social media, I inadvertently stated that the Jaguar was WIN’s party symbol. I hereby recant the above statement and categorically and unequivocally affirm that the Leopard is WIN’s party symbol and further, the Leopard is the symbol WIN submitted to GECOM for consideration and acceptance,” he told GECOM Chairman Retired Justice Claudette Singh in a letter dated June 29.

On June 14, 2025, Mr Mohamed had told a public meeting in the North West District that “the symbol is the jaguar”. Further, video and still images accompanying the WIN party leader on social media depicted a jaguar.

But in his letter to the GECOM Chairman he stressed that WIN’s symbol is a leopard rather than a jaguar.

GECOM’s Chairman and the three People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) commissioners had last week rejected WIN’s symbol on the grounds that the jaguar, being part of Guyana’s Coat of Arms, could not be used as a political party’s symbol. “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,” she had said.

The Opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC)-nominated Election Commissioner Vincent Alexander had objected to Justice Singh’s decision. “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 had said.