Disciplined services “votes not being counted at GECOM” – Commissioner

– Dispels misinformation disseminated by AFC leader, urges against mischief

Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioner Sase Gunraj has firmly rejected claims made by Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Nigel Hughes that ballots cast by members of the Disciplined Services are being counted prematurely at GECOM. Gunraj clarified that the ballots—cast on August 22 by members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Guyana Defence Force (GDF), and Guyana Prison Service (GPS)—remain sealed. He explained that the envelopes are currently being sorted in preparation for their lawful intermixing with other ballots on Elections Day, September 1, 2025.

“Votes are not being counted at GECOM,” Gunraj stated. “Disciplined Services ballots in sealed envelopes are being sorted for intermixing on E-Day, in the presence of agents of ALL parties.”
The Commissioner’s remarks came in response to Hughes, who earlier alleged that discrepancies had emerged between manual recounts of the ballots and spreadsheets generated by GECOM’s Information Technology (IT) system. Hughes claimed that in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), the manual count revealed two more envelopes than recorded electronically, while Regions Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) showed one fewer envelope each. He said another recount was underway to address the differences.
Gunraj urged political leaders to refrain from spreading misinformation, warning that such statements could undermine public confidence in the electoral process and fuel unnecessary tension.

Ballots
On Friday, 10,481 members of the Disciplined Services were eligible to cast their ballots ahead of the national polls, in keeping with electoral law that requires their early voting to facilitate deployment on Elections Day. This included 6,909 ranks from the GPF, 3,106 from the GDF, and 466 from the GPS. Balloting took place at 87 polling stations across the country, with each rank required to vote in their respective electoral district. The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) though often included in the Joint Services, will cast their votes alongside the general population on September 1. As customary during any elections, members of the disciplined services are required to vote 10 days prior to the polling day so that they are available for posting at the various polling stations and other strategic locations as required by law without disenfranchising them.
Each polling station will be provided with a list of the ranks who are qualified to vote at each respective balloting station. When the ranks vote, their names will be crossed off the disciplined services list provided at the ballot station.
Ranks who do not vote on D-Day will still have the opportunity to vote in their respective district as per normal on Election Day.

Smooth process
Following last Friday’s exercise, Public Relations Officer at GECOM, Yolanda Warde, told the Guyana Times that the D-Day activities were “generally a smooth process.”
“Upon the close of poll [on Friday], when those ballots are returned, those ballots will be sorted by the respective district, and they will be placed in secured custody according to districts. We have gazetted the list of polling stations where those ballots will be intermixed on election day… So, those ballots will be counted in the respective districts where the officers are registered to vote,” Warde noted.
Similar sentiments were echoed by several representatives of the various political parties, including Presidential Candidate of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Dr Irfaan Ali, also visited Camp Ayanganna on Friday morning.
Ali told reporters, “So far, we have observed a process that is smooth, very efficient. From all the reports we’re having across the country, there is nothing to create any uneasiness at the moment.”