20 key elections officers sworn-in

Jun 24, 2025 News

The swearing in of Returning Officers and Supernumerary Returning Officers

Kaieteur News – Twenty key election officers, comprising ten 10 Returning Officers and 10 Supernumerary Returning Officers, were sworn in officially on Monday.

The appointment of the officers is a part of preparation for Guyana’s upcoming General and Regional Elections. The officers took their oath of office before Guyana Elections Commission GECOM Chairperson, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh during a ceremony held in the Boardroom of GECOM.

In a statement GECOM, noted that the oath-taking ceremony represents a critical step in the electoral preparation process. “The oath-taking ceremony marks a key step in preparations for the conduct of the elections since the Returning Officers will be responsible for overseeing the electoral process in their respective districts, while the Supernumerary Returning Officers will have responsibility for the respective sub-districts in Districts 3, 4, & 6 as provided for in the Representation of the People Act,” the commission said.

GECOM further stated that political parties and electors may now visit the designated district offices to access relevant information on the electoral process and statutory deadlines. A full list of the appointed officers, along with the addresses of their respective offices, is available on GECOM’s official website at www.gecom.org.gy.

In June, the National Assembly passed the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2025 (ROPA), which introduces provisions for appointing deputy supernumerary returning officers within electoral sub-districts in Regions 3, 4, and 6—Guyana’s most populated regions. The amendment was presented by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC. According to the Legal Supplement dated May 16, 2025, Section 2 (1) of the Representation of the People Act was amended to redefine the term “supernumerary returning officer” as “a deputy supernumerary returning officer.” Additionally, Section 33 C (1) was revised to replace the word “shall” with “may,” thereby introducing discretion regarding the revision of the Official List of Electors and the roll for non-resident electors in specific circumstances.

Explaining the purpose of the amendment, Nandlall stated, “The amendment is very simple… When we enacted the Bill in 2022, we omitted to include in the definition of a supernumerary returning officer someone to deputize his/her function. When one draws the analogy between the supernumerary returning officer and the returning officer, as the supernumerary returning officer will be a miniaturized version of the returning officer, you realise that the returning officer has a deputy in ROPA, but in the amendments that we did, we did not include a deputy for the supernumerary returning officer. And that is all that the bill is intended to correct. In my view, a supernumerary returning officer, if he or she is not there, someone can deputize by operation of law and by normal grammatical canons of interpretation.”

One of the central objectives of the amendment is the reorganisation of vote tabulation in Regions 3, 4, and 6. Under the revised structure, electoral sub-districts will now be created within these regions, allowing tabulation to be conducted at the subdivision level instead of centrally at the Ashmins Building, which was previously used for Region 4.

The list of Returning Officers sworn in includes: Andre Thomas and Roxanne Smith for Region 1 (Barima/Waini); Rakesh Ramsamooj for Region 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara); Jerome Singh for Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica); Shelly-Ann Shenella Lewis-McDonald for Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice); Sunil Ramdial for Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne); Dwayne Williams for Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni); Dwayne Marco for Region 8 (Potaro/Siparuni); Carlos Melville for Region 9 (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo); and Krishana Elliott for Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Berbice).

The Supernumerary Returning Officers sworn in are: Natasha Grenion-Dipchand, Timona Kasim, and Eon Singh for Region 3; Alexandra Bowman, Mohamed Karimullah, Noreema Azaad-Ledra, and Brandon Khargu for Region 4; and Avinash Rambharose, Alvin Garnett, and Kelly Ann Mathieson for Region 6.

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Claudette Singh, election officers, elections 2025, GECOM, Mohabir Anil Nandlall

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