6 political parties cleared to contest Sept 1 elections

Six political parties have had their Candidates Lists approved by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), effectively paving the way for them to contest the upcoming General and Regional Elections on September 1.
The approved parties are A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Peoples Progressive Party / Civic (PPP/C), Alliance for Change (AFC), Assembly of Liberty and Prosperity (ALP), Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), and We Invest in Nationhood (WIN). On Nomination Day held on Monday last, GECOM’s Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud, received Lists of Candidates from seven political parties – APNU, PPP/C, AFC, ALP, FGM, WIN, and Horizon and Star.
According to GECOM, the seven-member Elections Commission on Friday held a special meeting to approve the parties’ lists in keeping with the legal requirements and within the statutory timelines post Nomination Day.
Prior to the Commission’s approval, however, each parties’ lists had undergone careful examination and processing to ensure that they confirm to the legal requirements. During that process, the Election Secretariat had found defects in the list of five parties. Those political parties whose lists’ contained defects were notified by the CEO by July 15. They were required to make the corrections and resubmit their lists by July 17.
“The resubmissions were received within the required timeline and processed; thereby allowing GECOM to approve the respective Lists of Candidates on the 18th July, 2025,” GECOM said on Friday.
The PPP/C and APNU were the only two parties with no defects on their lists. Meanwhile, Horizon and Star, led by Dr Hubert Maloney, had only submitted one candidate and therefore, did not meet any of the requirements to be qualified to contest the upcoming polls. However, that while all six approved parties will contest in the General Elections, only four of them will contest all 10 electoral districts (Administrative Regions) in the Regional Elections.
These are the PPP/C, which is seeking re-election for a second term with President Dr Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister (PM) Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips returning as the party’s frontrunners; APNU led by Presidential Candidate Aubrey Norton and Prime Ministerial Candidate Juretha Fernandes; AFC with Nigel Hughes as the Presidential Candidate and no Prime Ministerial Candidate selected to date, and WIN led by United States (US)-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed, who is also yet to name his running mate.
On the other hand, the ALP, led by former Minister under the previous APNU+AFC Coalition regime Simona Broomes, will only be contesting in districts three, four, five, six, seven and 10 in the Regional Elections. Additionally, FGM, with Presidential Candidate Amanza Walton Desire – a former APNU+AFC Member of Parliament (MP) will be contesting in the Regional Elections in districts one, two, three, four, five, six and 10. These regional lists of candidates were also approved by the Commission on Friday. Notwithstanding the Commission’s approvals, however, the Representatives and Deputy Representatives of Lists for each party have until July 21, 2025 to notify the CEO in writing of any joinder of lists. Thereafter, the CEO will gazette and publish the approved lists of candidates on July 23, 2025, officially declaring the political parties that will appear on the September 1 ballot paper for the General and Regional Elections.
CEO Persaud had told reporters on the sidelines of Monday’s Nomination Day that once final approval is given for the political parties’ lists, the next step would be designing the ballot paper, which will be sent overseas to be printed along with the tally sheets and Statements of Poll by Ottawa-based Canadian Bank Note Company Limited. In the meantime, the Elections Secretariat will continue logistical work in preparation for the upcoming polls.
“[When] the ballots come back, we do extraction for the conduct of Discipline Services’ balloting and then we pack ballot boxes for elections day – September 1,” Persaud had explained.
Since police officers are required to be out on duty on elections day, and the other Discipline Services on standby, the members of these agencies customarily vote before civilians. These ranks are expected to cast their votes on August 22 – 10 days before the September 1 polling day.
According to the CEO, there are currently a draft of 2785 polling stations across the country – an increase from the last elections held in 2020. This growth, he explained, was as a result of the numbers of voters per polling stations being restricted now to 400 from the previous 450.
Nevertheless, Persaud further assured that there is adequate security measures introduced to ensure that, unlike 2020, the tabulation of votes at this year’s election is done in a transparent manner and in compliance with the new laws that were put in place to strengthen the electoral procedures.
The CEO is also confident that the GECOM staff are fully trained and familiarised with these amended laws to ensure a smooth flow of the electoral activities. He also noted that with Statements of Poll (SoPs) now being required to be published immediately, the election results can be known as early as the “night of the day after elections. An official national declaration from GECOM, barring no requests for recounts could be made by the second day after elections, Persaud had noted.
After nearly a smooth polling day on March 2, 2020, chaos erupted during the tabulation of the results at the last elections after former embattled Returning Officer for Region Four – Guyana’s largest voting district, Clairmont Mingo, sought to declare inflated numbers in favour of the then APNU+AFC Coalition regime.
That attempt to rig the 2020 elections saw Guyana being plunged into a five-month political and electoral deadlock. However, with push back from the opposition parties at the time coupled with support from the international community including overseas observers and after a series of litigation, a national recount was held and confirmed that the PPP/C won.
Mingo, along with former CEO Keith Lowenfield and other GECOM staffers as well as PNC party activists are currently before the courts facing several electoral fraud charges.