Opposition elections commissioners absence delays declaration of results

Last Updated on Saturday, 6 September 2025, 12:01 by Writer

The Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) efforts to declare the results of the general and regional elections suffered another setback on Friday night after none of the opposition-backed election commissioners turned up for the meeting, according to People’s Progressive Party Civic-aligned election commissioner Sase Gunraj.

Efforts to contact opposition commissioner Vincent Alexander proved futile. The other absentees were Desmond Trotman and Charles Corbin.

He said there was no quorum because none of the three other commissioners was present. “We have turned up at this meeting and there has been a no-show by the three commissioners,” he said.

However, barring any other move that could probably stop the process, the declaration would be made on Saturday night in keeping with Guyana’s Constitution.

Mr Gunraj said for the purposes of a declaration, the Constitution provides for the commission to meet 24 hours later at which any four commissioners including the Chairman could discuss the matter and make a decision. “I expect that a meeting will now be summoned for tomorrow (Saturday) evening at the same time and the same place as is contemplated by the Constitution for that purpose,” he said.

After the declaration is made, a notification would be sent to the Chancellor of the Judiciary for the swearing in of the President.

The declaration could have probably been made earlier this week, but that was delayed due to requests by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) for the recounting of votes cast in 391 boxes on the East Coast Demerara and 77 boxes in parts of Region Five. That recount was completed earlier on Friday night. “At the end of that process, the most that any one party moved in terms of votes was plus or minus three or four. That is all the change that occurred as a net at the end of the process,” he said.

Based on all 10 district declarations, President Irfaan Ali and his People’s Progressive Party Civic are unofficially the winner of the elections with about 55 percent of the popular vote.

The PPPC-nominated members of the Elections Commission are Messrs Gunraj, Manoj Narayan and Clement Rohee.