GECOM approves work plan for Sept 1 elections

After walking out of a statutory meeting on Tuesday last, Opposition Commissioners at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) participated in discussions at another meeting on Thursday, during which the work plan for the hosting of General and Regions Elections on September 1, 2025 was approved.
This was confirmed by Government-nominated GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj.
In a social media post on Thursday evening, Gunraj revealed, “They showed up, discussed, and the work plan for the 1 September 2025 elections has been approved!!!”
Commissioner Gunraj subsequently explained to this newspaper that the work plan is a list of tasks; the period allotted for the execution of those tasks, and the dates for completion prior to the holding of elections, as well as for activities even after the elections, including as it relates to results.
“The work plan is important because that is basically the Commission’s guidance to the Secretariat to execute. So, the fact that we have that approved, the Secretariat is free to follow it to facilitate the holding of elections,” the GECOM Commissioner related to the Guyana Times on Thursday.
During his address to the nation at the 59th Independence Flag Raising ceremony at Albion, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) on Sunday night, President Dr Irfaan Ali had announced the official date for this year’s General and Regional Elections as September 1, 2025 – a decision taken after consultations with the Chairperson of GECOM, Retired Justice Claudette Singh.
On Tuesday, however, the three Opposition-nominated commissioners on the commission hosted a press conference in which they claimed that the agency was not in a position to host elections on September 1 – a claim that was firmly debunked by GECOM.
In a statement on Wednesday, GECOM called out the Opposition Commissioners’ attempts to mislead the public.
One such piece of misinformation was the Opposition Commissioners’ claim that they had been discussing a work plan at the level of the commission, with a September 22 date.
According to GECOM in its statement, this was not intended to be a work plan for the conduct of elections but rather it was merely a schedule of activities to give an idea of the time frame for holding elections at the earliest date.
GECOM explained that President Ali called the Chairwoman on May 23, enquiring if elections could be held within three months.
“The schedule of activities was prepared based on a request for the GECOM Secretariat to prepare a schedule indicating what would be the earliest date on which the elections could be held after they become constitutionally due. Brief observations on the schedule of activities were made by a Commissioner during a Commission meeting.”
“Accordingly, an undertaking was given by the Chief Election Officer to consider the observations and amend the schedule if necessary. The schedule of activities was never intended to be used as the work plan for the elections, nor was it discussed in this context,” GECOM said.
It was also explained that the Chairperson consulted Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud, who had already prepared a draft work plan in case there was a need for early elections. Further, this draft plan had placed the earliest possible election date at August 25, 2025.
“Armed with the information provided by the Chief Election Officer, and in consideration of Article 61 of the Constitution that “elections shall be held on such day within three months after every dissolution of Parliament as the President shall appoint by proclamation”, the Chairman advised President Ali that GECOM would be able to hold the elections within three (3) months.”
“Hopefully, the foregoing will dispel the publicized notion that the Chairman acted unilaterally, as was propagated during the above-referenced Press Conference,” the election agency added in Wednesday’s statement.
At a press conference on Tuesday morning, Opposition Commissioners Vincent Alexander and Charles Corbin claimed that GECOM is not in a state of readiness to conduct elections on September 1.
They complained that the last work plan discussed at the Commission level had a September 22 date and that this new work plan would result in shortened deadlines. When asked directly whether the issues they raised are legal breaches, however, Corbin admitted that they are not. He noted that certain timelines are indeed discretionary at the level of GECOM.
Despite expressing concern over GECOM’s readiness and a willingness to address the issues internally, however, it would later emerge on last Tuesday afternoon that the Opposition commissioners walked out of a statutory meeting to deliberate on the September 1 proposed work plan.
Prior to that meeting, Commissioner Gunraj had pushed back on the Opposition aligned Commissioners claims, telling reporters that GECOM has sufficient time to prepare for elections on September 1.
He noted that GECOM has already begun many of the key statutory tasks that are required ahead of elections and it’s just a matter of completing them. Gunraj also pointed out that everyone, especially political parties, should be aware of the time frame within which elections would be due.