One day after President Dr. Irfaan Ali announced that Guyana’s Regional and General Elections will be held on Monday, September 1, 2025, key members of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) say they was caught by surprise. In fact, Opposition Commissioners, Vincent Alexander, Robert Corbin and Desmond Trotman, said that they were only made aware of the date following Ali’s announcement.
“This contrived and baseless date is just another instance of the manner of conduct of the nation’s affairs under the Chairmanship of Justice Claudette Singh in conjunction with the Chief Elections Officer,” the trio said.
During his address on the occasion of Guyana’s 59th Independence Anniversary on Sunday, the Head of State stated that the announcement follows discussions with Claudette Singh.
But Alexander argued that the date announced by the President is more than three weeks earlier than GECOM’s proposed date of September 21, 2025, as the “earlier possible date” that GECOM can host the election.
Alexander noted that aside from the announcement, Opposition Commissioners have also received newly crafted workplans to facilitate the undertaking that the chairperson seemed to have given the president. But the Commissioner stated that the review of that plan suggests that changes will affect the timelines traditionally used for claims and objections submission of the list of candidates among other requirements, and even statutory deadlines as in the instance of the time provided for appeals by parties in relation to the list of nominees.
Alexander also noted that matters subjected to ongoing discussions will be jeopardized due to the adjustment of the work plan, namely the right of the incarcerated to vote, among others.
The Commissioners were adamant that they would not endorse a date “retroactively” that was made unilaterally.
Commissioner Corbin said that while the date has been announced, it has not been “cast in stone”. GECOM, he said, can advise the president that it is not ready or fully equipped to host an election on the date and adjustments can be made.
