GECOM poised to conduct ‘free, transparent & credible’ elections – Giddings

The country’s elections body, GECOM, is set to conduct “free, transparent and credible” General and Regional elections on September 1, 2025, Deputy Chief Elections Officer Aneal Giddings said Thursday after meeting with representatives of various political parties.

Representatives of 16 parties attended the meeting. That included the larger established parties like the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), and smaller parties, such as the AFC.

During the meeting, Giddings said a number of concerns were raised, including what happens if there is another joinder list in which several parties agree to merge their list of candidates so the combined votes they win can be used to calculate what seats they get, either at the regional or national level. This issue, Giddings said, is considered a “burning” one.

Mark DeFrance, the head of the A New and United Guyana (ANUG) party, was among those who raised issues about the joinder list. His party joined with the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and The New Movement (TNM) to share a single seat in the National Assembly after the 2020 elections. The LJP’s Lenox Shuman first held the seat and then TNM’s Asha Kissoon. When Kissoon was expected to resign and hand over the seat to an ANUG representative, she refused to do so, leaving ANUG without any time in Parliament.

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Giddings said he promised the party representatives that he will raise the matter at the next statutory meeting of GECOM.

“It’s a matter that needs to be raised, needs to be addressed…At this point in time, I would prefer to be guided by the Commission’s decision and the Commission’s directive on this,” Giddings said.

In fact, he said the Commission has been discussing this matter and hopefully, once raised, it will lead to a discussion “that will arrive in some sort of guidance.”

Another issue raised is the appearance of names of dead people on the list of voters, Giddings said, but noted that the process of claims and objections is ongoing. During this period, those who are aware that their dead relatives or friends are on the list can request that they be removed.

So what’s next?

Currently, GECOM is receiving symbols from persons who are interested in contesting in the elections.

The symbols have to be approved by the Chairperson of GECOM, retired Justice Claudette Singh. Approval is expected to be done by July 1.

Giddings explained that the “claims” aspect of Claims and Objections process has just concluded, while “objections” aspect is slated to conclude on Friday.

The process afterwards, he said, will see the preparation of the revised list of elector,s which will be publicized for 21 days.

The Secretariat is doing its other work, such as identifying Polling stations and ensuring all the procurement materials are in place.

Nominations Day is scheduled for July 14.