GECOM implemented 2 out of 26 recommendations from EU

Apr 21, 2025 News

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—AFC says continues to be gravely concerned

Kaieteur News- The Alliance For Change has disclosed that since their meeting with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) they have not received any response on whether the commission had examined all of the suggestions made by the international observers to ensure that the organisation was set to host free and fair elections.

Back in January, the AFC met with GECOM during which a number of issues were ventilated, in a subsequent press briefing Leader of the AFC Nigel Hughes described the meeting as nothing short of ‘disastrous’. In his statement to the media on Thursday during the party’s weekly press conference, Hughes stressed that the AFC continues to be gravely concerned over the non-implementation of recommendations the international observer missions to Guyana’s National and Regional Elections in 2020 suggested, even as the 2025 elections are rapidly approaching.

“The Guyana Elections Commission appears uninterested in implementing the key recommendations of the international observer missions which included the Carter Centre, the Organisation of American States – the OAS, the European Union (EU), the Commonwealth to name a few as outlined in their final reports. These fundamental recommendations were well articulated at the time and recommended to ensure that the challenges and errors of the 2020 elections debacle would not be repeated,” he said.

The Attorney-at-Law argued that with improvements to the systems at GECOM, citizens would be confident in its ability to deliver free and fair elections to them. He also highlighted that there are particular recommendations that are important like, “the OAS, Carter Centre, and EU observer missions all called for a comprehensive reform of the voter registration system. The undertaking of a house-to-house registration process at the earliest opportunity on completion of the 2020 election and a thorough update of the decades old voters register well ahead of the next election cycle based on inclusive consultations and political consensus.”

Furthermore, the EU and the Commonwealth highlighted that there is need for urgent electoral and constitutional reformation, to properly address “polarization of the nation including the merits and demerits of the Elections Commission and the electoral system.”

Additionally, it was also highlighted by the OAS, Carter Centre and European Union, the importance of using technology to ensure that there is timely release and publication of results and “the need for clear written procedures for the transmission and tabulation of results to ensure consistency and traceability and the possibility for all authorised stakeholders to examine SOP’s.”

Other recommendations made included objections to the use of private residents as polling stations, the need for regulation of campaign finance, GECOM regularly engaging its stakeholders, and technology to assist in the identification of persons at the place of poll. To date, the commission has not informed the public if they have examined them all, even though it was a clear request when the AFC met with the commission.

Hughes informed the media that, “A week ago, the Alliance For Change met with representatives from the EU elections Exploratory mission who confirmed that out of their 26 recommendations only two have been implemented five years later. The Alliance For Change has heard nothing from GECOM since our meeting with regards to the several concerns raised and continues to raise the alarm that GECOM seems ready to go forward to the 2025 elections which much of the previous errors and challenges unresolved.”

On January 24, this publication reported that Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Attorney-at-law, Nigel Hughes has expressed the view that the Guyana  Elections Commission (GECOM) is incapable of holding the 2025 General and Regional Elections.

Hughes spoke briefly to members of the press outside the GECOM headquarters in Kingston on Thursday afternoon following a meeting with his party and the commission.  He described the meeting between members of the AFC and GECOM officials as nothing but ‘disastrous.’ At a subsequent press briefing, the AFC Leader sought to update media personnel on matters discussed during the three-hour long meeting with the Elections Commission.

According to Hughes, the meeting provided the party with insight on GECOM’s preparedness to manage the upcoming elections as well as the issues related to the Commission’s internal management. Hughes stated that during the discussions, Chairperson of GECOM, retired Justice Claudette Singh among other things admitted that it conducted no review of the 2020 elections. “GECOM admitted it had not conducted any review of its operations. It had not conducted any review of the way in which they internally managed the 2020 elections. We enquired of them if any of the recommendations made by the [International] observers were actually implemented and they said none of those as far as they are aware,” Hughes revealed.

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• AFC, GECOM, Nigel Hughes, no response, recommendations

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