2025 General & Regional elections: Constitution only allows party-list elections – AG tells court

…rejects lone candidate bid in Chris Ram’s legal challenge

In response to a legal challenge from Attorney-at-Law and Accountant Chris Ram, who is asking the court to clear the way for independent candidates to contest the upcoming election, Attorney General (AG) and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, SC has made it clear that there is no constitutional provision for this.
Ram had taken the Government to court, seeking a ruling that independent candidates should be allowed to contest general and regional elections to seek geographical seats in the National Assembly. According to written submissions from Nandlall, however, Ram’s case has no merit and the constitution should be upheld.

“Guyana’s democracy, as shaped by its Constitution, is one of constitutional supremacy and representative Government. Changes to that system, if thought desirable, must be achieved by the people’s representatives through the prescribed democratic processes (constitutional amendment or legislative reform), not by judicial decree,” Ram explained.
“As it stands, every Guyanese citizen has the right to form or join a political party or list and to seek election under that banner; every vote cast contributes to the proportional outcome, and every seat is ultimately filled by an individual from a list reflecting that vote. This is democracy by party-list design, and it is the system the people have chosen and legislatively passed. It does not accommodate one-man candidacies, and that is by deliberate design, not inadvertence or oppression.”
Nandlall pointed out that the constitution caters for a proportional representation system, where candidates must belong to a political party and be drawn from a list. The AG noted that far from Ram’s contention that such provisions in the Representation of the People’s Act are unconstitutional, it actually falls in line with the constitution. “The Constitution, properly construed, establishes a system of proportional representation (PR) predicated upon a party-list system for the election of members to the National Assembly, and confers no right nor creates a mechanism for independent/individual candidates to contest without being part of a list. Accordingly, ROPA (Representation of the People Act), which requires, inter alia, candidates to be part of a list of a political party, faithfully implements the letter and spirit prescribed by the Constitution.”
Further, he noted that if the public had wanted independents to contest, this matter would have been raised in the 1999 constitutional reform consultations. Instead, however, multiple elections have been conducted afterwards under the same party list system.
Ram, according to Nandlall, is the first person to formally challenge the party list system. Further, Nandlall contended that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has implicitly upheld this very system in its own previous judgements.
“The CCJ – our apex Court- having been provided with multiple opportunities to do so, never suggested that Guyana’s democratic character is diminished by its use of party-list PR. On the contrary, in Ali & Jagdeo, the CCJ implicitly endorsed the legitimacy of the system by focusing on the need to uphold the results produced by that system.”
“For example, insisting that GECOM (Guyana Elections Commission) declare the outcome based on the recount tally and not some extra-legal concept of “valid votes” that would have disenfranchised voters. This underscores fidelity to the chosen PR system,” Nandlall said in his submissions.
The AG pointed out that persons are free to form a list or join an existing party list to contest the elections. Additionally, Nandlall argued against Ram’s claims of a ‘human right’ for independent candidates to contest, noting that a distinction must be made from the human right to vote.
“For all the reasons adumbrated above, the Respondent respectfully submits that the challenge to ROPA must fail, and the law, as an embodiment of the constitutional electoral model, must be upheld as constitutional in all respects,” he added.
In April of this year, Ram moved to the High Court seeking a declaration that independent candidates can seek election to the National Assembly in geographical constituencies. This comes even as the September 1, 2025, the date President Dr Irfaan Ali announced for general and regional elections steadily approaches.
Among the field of Presidential candidates, only one American sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohammed, is currently unaffiliated with any existing political party. He, like every other contestant, has until July 14- Nomination Day- to submit his Lists of Candidates, in keeping with statutory provisions.
The Representation of the People’s Act prescribed that the submissions of the lists of candidates and nominators will have to be done strictly on Nominations Day and within the timeframe set – no time earlier or later.
Additionally, political parties will be required to submit applications for the allocation of symbols to be approval by GECOM, by June 22, 2025.