Ali rules out immediate constitutional amendment to fix GECOM’s composition

Last Updated on Saturday, 14 November 2026, 6:53 by Written By Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali on Friday ruled out seeking a constitutional amendment outside the reform process for the composition of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to mirror the new make-up of the parliamentary opposition.

“I want the constitutional reform process to move forward very, very quickly, and for that process to to take forward recommendations on every aspect of national life that that requires adjustment, given where we are as a country today, and given where the world is, but I can’t nitpick on one issue,” he said when asked by Demerara Waves Online News.

Though he said his governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) was ready for local government elections for neighbourhood and town councils, GECOM Chairman Claudette Singh has refused to call GECOM meetings for more than one year now because the People’s National Congress Reform-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) because its nominated commissioners remaining in office is inconsistent with the outcome of the September 2025 elections that saw We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) emerging as the main opposition party with 16 seats and APNU with 12

Dr Ali believed that the issue should be settled in the court if local government elections are to be held this year. “There are some issues and with the opposition itself, and you know, the courts are there for a purpose and if any stakeholder believes that they need something to be questioned or something to be analysed or adjudicated upon, that they they use the arm of government, which is the judiciary,” he said. APNU is backing the refusal of its three nominated election commissioners- Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman- on grounds of constitutionally insulated security of tenure unless the law or constitution is amended.

WIN has for more than one year failed to budge on its repeated promises to ask the High Court to rule on whether it should automatically be represented on the seven-member GECOM, having replaced APNU as the single largest opposition party. WIN has instead nominated lawyers Siand Dhurjon, Roysdale Forde and Damien Da Silva to be commissioners.

GECOM this week issued a statement this week maintaining that “with respect to the circumstances affecting the composition of the Commission, the Chairman remains firmly guided by the provisions and spirit of Article 161(3)(b) of the Constitution of Guyana” which reads that three members are to be appointed by the President acting in accordance with the advice of the Leader of the Opposition tendered after meaningful consultation with nongovernmental political parties represented in the National Assembly.”

Mr Alexander has countered, saying that by Retired Justice Singh’s same logic she should step down because her nomination was made by a different Opposition Leader “after meaningful consultation with the non-
governmental political parties represented in the National Assembly”. “Claudette Singh should therefore, based on her own interpretation of the Constitution, resign since the provision providing for the appointment of the commissioners is applicable mutatis mutandis ( although changes will be necessary in order to take account of different situations, the basic point remains the same) to the appointment of the chair,” he said. Mr Alexander stopped short of accusing the GECOM Chairman of having a hidden agenda. “GECOM is comatose and in crisis, largely due to the actions of the Chair. What misinforms and/or motivates her actions may well be the elephant in the room,” he said.

In Tuesday’s statement, GECOM said Ms Singh maintained that much depended on changing the law if the “relevant constitutional authorities” see that as necessary to resolve the appointment and composition of the opposition representation matter now that there is a new Leader of the Opposition.  “The Chairman’s position has consistently been informed by the need to ensure that the Commission operates with a composition that is constitutionally sound and reflective of the applicable constitutional arrangements,” GECOM said.

The commission regretted that the Chairman sticking to that constitutional position has been characterised
as a unilateral or arbitrary freezing of the Commission’s operations.