2025 elections: US to train Guyana police for election security, fund major observer missions

Following a request from the Guyana Police Force, the United States will be sending experts here to conduct security training for ranks ahead of the September 1, 2025, General and Regional Elections.
This was revealed by US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, during an interview with reporters on the side-lines of an event on Wednesday.
“So, what we’re going to be doing very shortly is bringing in police trainers – we haven’t settled yet on whether it’s Las Vegas or Miami Dade – to provide election day security training to help the GPF be prepared for whatever might come.”
“As you know, our elections, no matter how contentious they might be, are always peaceful for the most part, and so we do have a lot of expertise in that area in the United States. So, we were very happy to help,” she explained.
Ambassador Theriot could not say how many experts will be coming but noted that it would be a small number. Those persons, she stated, would train a group of GPF ranks who would then pass on the techniques to the Force’s wider membership.

The Guyana Police Force had come under heavy criticism and scrutiny over their handling of the events that followed the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections during which chaos erupted over blatant attempts to rig the results, which catapulted the country into a five-month political and electoral deadlock.
Election observation support
On the other hand, the US is also lending support to election observation efforts. In addition to fielding a 50-member observation team from the Embassy in Georgetown, the US is also working along with the other missions in Guyana, including the other ABCEU members – the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union (EU) – to ensure that they all cover different aspects of election support.
“For example, we’re funding two-thirds of the OAS (Organisation of American States) Election Observation Mission, who’ll be coming. And we’re working extremely closely with the Carter Centre, who we’re thrilled… arrived here at the end of June to do their elections observation through [to] the results tabulation. So, we’re very, very pleased to have that incredible institution here and to be able to support them along with my colleagues at the UK, EU and Canadian missions,” the US envoy noted.
In addition, the ABCEU members will also be working with local and other regional bodies such as the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), respectively.
“We’re trying to ensure that we’re all working together so that we’re not redundant and that, hopefully, every polling station in the country has international observers,” Ambassador Theriot posited.
Moreover, the US also assisted the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to field technical expertise, who are currently in Guyana and are working with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in their preparation for the September 1 polls.
This Electoral Support Project, funded by the UK government to the tune of £750,000 and implemented by UNDP, will see the GECOM benefiting from high-level technical assistance, international expertise and best practices to support its core activities in administering elections that meet international standards. The project is designed to support both the immediate and longer-term needs of GECOM in managing the 2025 electoral cycle and will continue through to March 2026.
Already, GECOM and UNDP hosted a one-day workshop on ‘Strengthening Communication Strategies for Electoral Integrity’ in June. That workshop was designed to enhance GECOM’s strategic communication capacity in the lead-up to the 2025 election with a focus on enhancing participants’ understanding of effective civic and voter education strategies; building capacity in anticipating information needs and maintaining proactive media relations; and strengthening institutional readiness for crisis communication.
The workshop also served as a platform to align efforts toward a unified vision of informed civic participation and institutional resilience and demonstrated the importance of proactive, timely, and accurate public engagement as essential to building trust in democratic systems – particularly in an era of rapid information flows and increasing disinformation.