General and Regional Elections 2025: 2970 polling stations for Sept 1 GRE – GECOM

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will be establishing 2970 polling stations across Guyana for the September 1 General and Regional Elections (GRE), with a final count of 757,690 total voters registered on the Official List of Electors (OLE) and eligible to vote.
This marks an increase of 631 more polling stations than were established for the 2020 General and Regional Elections, with the OLE increasing by 14.63 per cent, or 96,692 voters.
A total of 660,998 persons voted in 2020.
GECOM Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Anneal Giddings, during an engagement with the media on Saturday, noted that GECOM has worked to ensure that no more than 400 voters will be assigned to any respective polling station. Giddings explained that each of the six political parties set to contest the elections was given a chance to scrutinise the list of polling places and raise any concerns they might have.
“Agents for each political party are given the entire polling station list. All of the parties have been given the opportunity to submit their concerns and feedback to GECOM. The two major political parties have done that and have addressed, and I believe they’re still addressing, a couple challenges,” Giddings noted.
On election day each polling station will be overseen by a Presiding Officer (PO), who will be supported by other elections staff, including an Assistant PO, Ballot Clerk, and Poll Clerks (PCs). Each political party will be allowed one polling agent at each polling station, while international and local observers will also be present at some of the polling stations to observe the process.
At the close of the poll, the ballots will be tabulated on location at each polling station, allowing for the Statement Of Poll (SOP) to be generated and posted outside of the polling station. Each PO will then submit their ballot boxes and all election materials to an assigned Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) or Supernumerary DRO. According to Giddings, DROs will be responsible for 10–20 polling stations.
The DROs/SDROs will hand over the materials to the Returning Officer or Supernumerary RO, who will tabulate the votes for their respective districts and make a declaration of results.
Earlier this week, GECOM began processing the ballot papers and other sensitive materials, with the process being observed by agents of the various political parties, as well as members of the European Union Election Observer Mission.
The process involves the sorting, packing, and verification of ballot papers, SOPs, and other critical election documents. The items will be placed into ballot boxes for dispatch to polling stations ahead of election day.
Also earlier this week, GECOM launched a new online search tool that assists voters with finding their assigned polling stations ahead of the upcoming elections. The tool allows voters to be able to use any online electronic device to find their polling stations by inputting either their National Identification Number and clicking on “Search by ID” or inputting their full name and date of birth under the “Search by Particulars” option.
The feature is accessible on GECOM’s official website and is part of efforts to streamline the voting process and enhance convenience for all eligible electors.
With just two weeks remaining until E-day, the initiative seeks to eliminate the usual confusion experienced on Election Day, where voters often show up at the wrong polling stations or struggle to locate their names on physical lists.