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‘GECOM not ready for free, fair and transparent elections’ – Alexander
Kaieteur News – While the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) steams ahead with its preparations for the General and Regional Elections slated for September 1, 2025, opposition-nominated Commissioner, Vincent Alexander still has reservations about the commission’s readiness to conduct credible elections.
Alexander, who appeared as a guest on ‘Context’, a programme produced by Guyanese broadcaster Enrico Woolford and aired on Facebook, raised his concerns about GECOM’s readiness.
The opposition commissioner noted that while GECOM has a mandate to conduct free, fair and transparent elections, the work conducted by the elections’ machinery so far, does not point to a commission that is ready for polls that cannot be questioned.
“For me, one GECOM has not done anything within its power to ensure the elections are free, fair and transparent, notwithstanding their readiness for elections based on the technical things in their work plan. I do not consider GECOM to be ready for elections because it’s not just about elections. It’s free, fair and transparent elections,” Alexander said.
Alexander pointed to GECOM’s timelines specifically disadvantages to some small parties.
“They will get through that to the end of elections but are the elections going to be free, fair, and transparent …Given the things they don’t have in place. For example, putting in place proper mechanism for the identification of voters or putting in place the mechanism that the list cannot be manipulated. If those things are not done, as far as I’m concerned, we have a dilemma of an election that may not be free, fair and transparent.
“I am not saying this abstractly. I am saying this because in the past things have occurred which can reoccur because GECOM has not made the effort to ensure there is no reoccurrence,” Alexander pointed out.
Notwithstanding, Alexander admitted that the opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) is to be blamed partially for the current state of GECOM. He said that there could have been more effort on the opposition’s part to bring about more meaningful change to GECOM when they were in government.
L-R: Opposition nominated-commissioner Vincent Alexander speaks with broadcaster Enrico Woolford on ‘Context’.
“Part of what is hampering our achieving free, free and transparent elections … has to do with the legislative architecture that does not provide for us to clean up the list in the way, the list should be cleaned up,” the GECOM commissioner added.
In May, commissioners Alexander, Desmond Trotman, and Charles Corbin held a press conference criticising the September 1 election date announced by President Irfaan Ali.
They argued that the decision was made unilaterally and did not align with GECOM’s internal planning. They further argued that GECOM would not be ready to hold elections on that date.
Alexander stated that at a previous meeting held on May 20, GECOM’s Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud had submitted a “revised work plan” projecting September 22, 2025, as the earliest feasible date for elections.
However, GECOM, in a statement, refuted this, stating that Persaud confirmed the readiness of the commission, following claims from opposition-nominated commissioners that GECOM Chairperson, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, provided misleading advice to President Irfaan Ali.
After initially rejecting the September 1, 2025 date for the elections, the opposition-nominated commissioners agreed to the date.
Alexander confirmed that despite the change in position several key issues critical to ensuring free and fair elections remain unresolved. “There is no change in terms of the September 1 projection. In the meeting, we went through a work plan, saw some clarity and have agreed on the number of various actions that have to be taken, which is not explicit.”
The commissioner continued: “The issues which were outstanding were stamping of the ballot, the number of dead persons on the list… and those matters I contended are critical to a free and fair election, which have not been concluded.”
He added that these matters, which were not included in the current plan but flagged by the opposition as essential, will be addressed in subsequent meetings. “All the things that were not in the plan that the opposition had contended are critical to a free and fair election will be discussed…,” Alexander noted.
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- A Partnership For National Unity, GECOM, Guyan Elections 2025, Guyana Elections Commission, Transparent elections, Vincent Alexander
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Get off you backside, Vinnie.
You been sitting there all those years doing nothing, getting paid too,
and now say, Not Ready ?
All you have done is complain, complain, complain and complain.
Followed by walkouts, walkouts, walkouts and more walkouts.
Could you at least be PRODUCTIVE and earn your salary ?
Haven’t you seen any progress made in the last 5 years for the betterment
of Guyana, the country and citizens ?
Did you not collect those FREE GRANTS from Government, GRANTS
you, no one else, must pay back ? You must resign promptly, instead of
just sitting there in a position that others could utilize to benefit the country.