Last Updated on Tuesday, 2 September 2025, 23:04 by Writer
The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) is on a steady course to being declared the overall winner of both the presidency and the National Assembly in Monday’s general and regional elections, amid concerns by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and 11 other organisations that foreigners were allowed to vote.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Monday pointed out that Guyana’s Constitution provides for nationals of sister Commonwealth countries to vote in elections after residing here for at least one year.
Chief of the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) election observer mission, Belize’s Chief Elections Officer of the Elections and Boundaries Department, Josephine Tamai said her mission did not receive any concerns about larger number of Commonwealth Citizens and Venezuelans casting ballots in the polls. “It wasn’t raised on election day about Commonwealth persons and Venezuelans voting. Like I said, in order for their names to be on the voters list, it should be that they are qualified to vote in Guyana,” she said.
In addition to concerns raised by APNU presidential candidate Aubrey Norton that 107 Indian nationals in the Plaisance/ Ogle area and 27 Bangladeshis in Diamond voted Monday, the GHRA and the 11 other organisations that “credible reports and video evidence show groups of alleged Bangladeshi and Indian contract workers arriving in organized formations by bus at polling stations, most visibly in Region 4.
The buses were met by senior police officers, suggesting prior organization,” they said in a statement. The organisations said those individuals presented Guyanese National ID cards.
However, under the “Nationality” field, they said the word “Commonwealth” was recorded instead of “Guyanese,” which is legally invalid.
Such registration should have been rejected under the Constitution and electoral law. The one dozen organisations called on international observers to withhold certification of the election results until foreign voter irregularities and accessibility breaches are fully investigated and remedied.
They demanded clarification on the number, origin and status of all foreign voters on the electoral register, whether any coercion or contractual obligation influenced their participation and similar information for other non-Guyanese voters, such as Venezuelan nationals registered to vote.
President Irfaan Ali earlier on Tuesday said Guyanese would have a clear idea later in the day about the expected outcome of the elections. “By the end of today, the trend will be clear, and we will be in a position to move forward together,” he said.
Top high-ranking PPP officials told Demerara Waves Online News that their party preferred to await GECOM’s declaration but unofficially they won the presidency and majority in the 65-seat National Assembly.
Apathy, cash and collapsed coalition talks
Across at its Congress Place headquarters, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was reportedly counting its losses including in electoral districts such as Region One (Barima-Waini), Region Nine (Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), as well as parts of Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
On top of an overall low voter turnout, APNU sources said the newcomer We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), led by United States-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed, pulled a lot of APNU supporters and some PPPC supporters.
APNU sources said WIN is projected to enter the National Assembly with double digit seats, possibly for the first time displacing it and its parent party, PNCR, as the main parliamentary opposition party for the first time since 1992.
APNU presidential candidate Aubrey Norton earlier on Tuesday told News Source in an interview that his party’s defeat in Region 10, a traditional stronghold, could be as a result of WIN having wooed his supporters in Linden who have been impoverished by the PPPC. “We are well aware that poverty in Linden is very high and, unfortunately in these elections, a lot of money played its role and I think Linden was a victim of the money that was circulating,” he said.
Mr Norton said political upsets like that are short-lived and APNU would regroup and “we guarantee you that we’ll regain Linden.”
Mr Norton attributed low voter-turnout to Guyanese becoming “tired” of the political system and the failure of APNU and AFC to form a coalition to contest the September 1 general and regional elections. “When we didn’t get a coalition, some people felt you couldn’t win without a coalition and I think that is one thing that might explain the low voter turnout because, really and truly, Guyanese were looking forward to a coalition between APNU and AFC and that moral boost that could have come from a coalition didn’t exist and I believe, as a result of that, some amount of apathy developed in what was previously APNU+AFC coalition areas,” he said. Mr Norton’s PNCR-led APNU had insisted that he must be the presidential candidate, representative of the list and control key ministries.
He said APNU performed better in Region Six (East Berbice-East Corentyne).
The organisations that expressed concern primarily about foreigners voting are the GHRA, Guyana Trade Union Congress, Red Thread, Guyana Organization of Indigenous Peoples, Policy Forum Guyana, Access to Information Group, Amerindian Peoples Association and the Guyana Workers Union.
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