GECOM commissioners refuse to discuss their future with opposition leader

Last Updated on Sunday, 1 February 2026, 18:00 by Writer

The three A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-aligned Guyana Elections Commission representatives on Saturday told Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed that they would meet with him but would not discuss whether they should be replaced.

In a joint letter, election commissioners Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman agreed to meet with Mr Mohamed to discuss matters concerning GECOM.

However, they ruled out discussing his desire for them to resign. “Recognizing your status as Leader of the Opposition we accept our responsibility, are happy to and we are hereby agreeing to meet with you and/or your representatives on all matters pertaining to GECOM, other than our status which is a sine qua non subject to legislative or judicial intervention,” they told the opposition leader in a letter dated January 31.

Messrs Alexander, Corbin and Trotman said they were aware of Mr Mohamed’s We Invest in Nationhood’s (WIN) public pronouncement about their status, his calls for their resignation and “some disparaging remarks” and so they would not be holding any talks on their future as election commissioners. “In these circumstances, we do not accept that there is any basis for a meeting to discuss our status as commissioners,” they said.

The commissioners also suggested “in the current circumstance our initial meeting be convened at a neutral and mutually agreed venue.”

The WIN leader said he would still meet with the election commissioners at a future date rather than on Sunday at 10 a.m. because he only received the letter late on Saturday night.

Asked whether he would resort to legal action given their stance, he said “no I will meet with them first”.

WIN is on record as saying that “as a matter of constitutional principle and democratic legitimacy, the composition of the Commission, particularly on the opposition side, must reflect the current configuration of the National Assembly.” Following the September 1, 2025 general and regional elections, WIN emerged as the main opposition party with 16 seats, APNU 12 and Forward Guyana Movement one.

But PNCR-APNU Leader Aubrey Norton said at the weekend that if Mr Mohamed was “astute”, he would have requested a meeting with his party to “work out the changes to occur and how it will occur”.

At the same time, he maintained that once appointed a GECOM commissioner, that person remains in office because “it’s a permanent commission and unless there is a change in law, those commissioners will remain.”

Mr Norton and APNU parliamentary leader Dr Terrence Campbell also criticised Mr Mohamed for failing to call for the removal of GECOM Chairman retired Justice Claudette Singh because she had been allegedly voting with the three ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)-nominated commissioners and blocking electoral reforms.

PNCR-APNU has been pushing for a review of the 2020 general and regional elections and the introduction of digitalised biometrics for registration and pre-voting verification of persons.

Last year, the GECOM Chairman had promised that the commission would begin doing so after the last elections.

She had said that the law would permit digitalised biometric registration of persons but that it would be a constitutional violation to use such a system to exclusively verify the identities of persons before they vote.