OAS lauds peaceful, orderly conduct of Guyana’s elections

The Organization of American States (OAS) Electoral Observer Mission (EOM) has commended Guyana on what it has described as a peaceful and orderly conduct of Monday’s General and Regional Elections. “We want to begin by commending you on the peaceful and orderly conduct of Monday’s general and regional elections,” Head of the OAS/EOM Bruce Golding said in a recent video statement to deliver the groups preliminary report. “We saw first-hand the civic commitment of the Guyanese people, the professionalism of the poll workers and the hard work of the police officers, party agents, and electoral officials. It is through these efforts that this election was conducted in such a peaceful and orderly manner and we applaud you all.”
Golding, a former Prime Minister (PM) of Jamaica, led the 27-member OAS/EOM to monitor the 2025 General and Regional Elections in Guyana held on September 1.
The organisation comprised 27 experts and observers from 18 countries, who arrived in Guyana in a staggered manner and began its work on August 20 and were able to monitor the conduct of the Disciplined Services voting two days later.

Elections Day
On elections day, the OAS observers visited 637 polling stations at 269 polling centres in seven of Guyana’s 10 regions. They followed the entire process from the opening of the polling stations all the way through the counting and tabulation of results. “On elections day, we saw a steady and calm voting process. While areas for improvement to the process remain and while voter participation was lower than in previous years, the rules governing the electoral process were generally respected in the polling locations visited by the members of the mission,” Golding stated. In the report, the OAS Mission noted that while provisions were typically made to ensure the secrecy of the votes cast by electors by the strategic placement of the voting compartment, in some instances, however, this secrecy was at risk with the placements of some voting compartments. “Another issue of concern in the voting centres was the placement of the voting booths, which, in many cases observed by the OAS/EOM did not secure the secrecy of the vote. The Mission observed that there seemed to be layout inconsistencies even within polling centres, based on the individual interpretation and disposition of polling officials regarding the right of polling officials and party agents to see the entire person of the voter, in order to determine whether the voter might attempt to take a photograph of his marked ballot,” the report detailed. To ensure certainty, transparency and inclusion, the OAS/EOM recommends making statutory provisions regarding the presence and or use of cell-phones in the polling booth and establishing clear guidelines on the placement of the voting booths and ensuring election officials are trained to set them up properly.
The OAS/EOM also recommended guaranteed accessibility options for voters with special needs as well as formalising and enforcing policies to expedite the voting process for electors with special needs including educating all voters about priority access rights and ensuring that adequate assistance is provided when needed.

After the close of polls
After the close of polls, the mission said the ballot count followed the established processes in place. But while OAS Chief Observer lauded the uploading of the Statements of Poll (SoPs) to GECOM’s website, he cited delays in this process.
“This delay,” he noted, “…meant that operators had to continue scanning documents into the night and the next day. We recognise and commend the electoral authorities for the improvement they have made to this process, which support transparency. At the same time, it would be beneficial to identify ways in which the statements of poll could be published more speedily.”
Given that the hours following elections are critical for providing reliable and timely information to citizens and avoiding speculation and mischief, the Mission recommends implementing a preliminary results transmission system from voting centres to provide citizens with information from official sources while the other legal processes stipulated by the legislation for obtaining the final results are completed. In his preliminary report, the OAS Chief Observer went on to commend Guyana’s Government officials and electoral authorities for their commitment to and support for democracy.
While here, the OAS mission had “very constructive dialogue” with electoral authorities, Government officials, political parties, civil society organisations and the international community among others. Golding said this wide-ranging engagement allowed the mission to gain diverse perspectives on the context and organisation of the elections, as well as the overall electoral framework.
These engagements, coupled with the mission’s observations and analyses, will help the OAS-EOM in crafting a detailed final report, which will outline their findings and recommendations to help enhance Guyana’s democratic system.
“We sincerely hope that these recommendations, particularly those that have been made before by different OAS missions, will be seriously considered by the competent authorities. We believe strongly that their implementation will contribute to strengthening future electoral processes and ultimately, democracy in the country.”
“To the people of Guyana, we want to express our deepest admiration for your commitment to democracy. We saw first-hand your peaceful participation and your patience in exercising your civic duty. It is this spirit that is the true foundation of a strong nation,” Golding stated. Meanwhile, the OAS mission continued to monitor the electoral process including the recounts that were done for parts of Regions Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Five (Mahaica-Berbice), reaffirming that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has won those two districts and has emerged with a landslide victory at this year’s polls. At Guyana’s 2020 elections, Golding had also headed the OAS mission here and had said in his preliminary report that he “has never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election.”
This was after the senior officials of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) attempted to inflate voting figures from Region Four – Guyana’s largest voting district – in favour of the then A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition regime. Golding had said in his statement at the time that, “It takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present fictitious numbers when such a sturdy paper trail exists.” The deployment of the 2025 OAS-EOM was financed with contributions from the Governments of Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Morocco, Peru, Spain and the United States of America (USA).