See statement from the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU):
The APNU Coalition has reviewed GECOM’s Press Release of 4th August 2025, titled “Obstructing the Secrecy of the Vote is an Offence.”
This release, we note, comes on the heels of our own statement on the issue at our Press Conference on 18th July 2025, where we declared that: “Guyana has reached a point in its electoral history where the secrecy of the ballot must be guaranteed more than ever before. Elections can only be a true reflection of the will of the people when they can vote free from fear, coercion, and bribes … GECOM can ensure this by guaranteeing the secrecy of the ballot. In this regard, the rule prohibiting the taking of photos of one’s vote must be publicized widely and enforced on E-day in all polling stations countrywide.”
As the GECOM Press Release emphasized, specific laws do exist in these regards – laws that are clear in their language and intent. Section 77(2) of the Representation of the People Act, for instance, prohibits (on pain of fines and imprisonment) any person from directly or indirectly inducing an elector to display his ballot after he or she has marked it.
Likewise, Section 130 (on Bribery) outlaws a range of acts that reward an elector (by money, gift, and other valuables) for voting or for not voting. Not only are those who directly or indirectly seek to buy votes guilty of the “corrupt practice of bribery”, but so too are those electors who accept such bribes.
We therefore urge all Guyanese electors not to be tempted to break the law and risk fines and imprisonment for any bribe waved in their faces by those who believe that popularity could be bought. GECOM must, however, appreciate that in this modern era, the go-to method for any misguided elector to provide evidence to collect payment from his or her briber is by photographing his or her marked ballot paper.
We call on GECOM, therefore, to ensure the public is informed that photographs and the use of cameras are prohibited in the polling place. GECOM’s latest Press Release omits this vital bit of information. We hereby also advise GECOM and the Guyana Police Force to set up hotlines where persons can anonymously report these and other incidents of electoral fraud.
The other contesting political parties, which are interested in free and credible elections, should have no difficulty in publicly endorsing these and other measures to maintain the secrecy of the ballot. They should raise their voices now. Not only is the country’s democracy at stake, but its very soul.
