GECOM says all is well with presiding officers… Over 13,000 first time voters registered for E-day

Aug 30, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News – The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Friday clarified that all polling day staff has been appointed ahead of the September 1 general and regional elections.

The clarification came in response to remarks made by opposition-nominated commissioner Vincent Alexander, who, in an interview with journalist Abeena Rockliff from Guyana Standard, claimed that GECOM was scrambling to find presiding officers after many had declined the role. Alexander further suggested that the commission may be forced to rely on officers from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to fill the critical positions.

However, the commission in a statement on Friday rejected the claim stating, “This claim is entirely false and has no basis in law, policy, or practice. Any suggestion that military personnel would be deployed in electoral roles is not only inaccurate, but also misleading and irresponsible, especially at a time when public confidence and calm are critical.”
It continued, “Presiding officers are civilian functionaries appointed through a public recruitment process.

Each officer undergoes mandatory training in line with the Representation of the People Act and established GECOM protocols.

There is no provision in the electoral framework, either legislatively or operationally, that allows for military personnel, including members of the GDF, to serve as presiding officers or to carry out polling day responsibilities on behalf of GECOM,” GECOM stated.

The commission acknowledged that while a few individuals have declined offers to serve specifically as presiding officers, this does not mean they have opted out of the electoral process entirely. Instead, those individuals have been reassigned to lower-tier roles within the polling day staff structure where they feel more comfortable serving.

GECOM also stated that its recruitment programme has been actively managed and remains on track. All required positions, the commission assured, “are filled by trained and vetted civilians.”

During the interview, Commissioner Alexander suggested that GECOM may be forced to rely on officers from the GDF to fill the role of presiding officers. Since the interview aired, his claim has been widely circulated across social media platforms and picked up by various media outlets.

He stated that despite ongoing efforts, little progress has been made in appointing presiding officers. Alexander said the positions were offered to a number of individuals, many of whom declined.

The staffing concern was raised earlier by Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud during a GECOM press conference. Persaud noted that while polling day staff had already been assigned across the country, some presiding officers withdrew from the role, forcing the commission to search for last-minute replacements.

“In that regard, we have encountered some issues where some persons who have been identified based on having met the criteria for appointment in the different areas, we have found that some persons are declining the appointment as presiding officers,” Persaud stated. “This has now resulted in us having to seek replacements. The replacement, one might feel, should have been automatic in that the assistant presiding officer would have assumed that role not necessarily so.”

When asked the reasons for persons declining the position, Persaud responded, “they are saying, look, I do not want to take the responsibility for the polling station, therefore I prefer to step down.’ As a presiding officer, it is your responsibility—you are in charge of the entire operation of the polling station, from the opening of the poll until the declaration of results and the posting of the statements of poll.”

Alexander had said the reluctance may have stemmed from the strict legal liabilities attached to the position. He explained that recent changes to electoral law impose harsh penalties on GECOM officials, even for unintentional errors.

He also addressed GECOM’s struggle to fill other key positions. He said the roles of Legal Officer and Assistant Public Relations Officer remain vacant; despite being re-advertised. “We brought the matter forward for shortlisting yesterday, and some of us said, ‘Look, we have elections on Monday. This process will not take us to a decision before then, so let’s leave it and get on with the work,’” he explained. “We are now wasting time trying to identify legal assistance we have gotten pass the things that we required,” he said.

Adding his voice to the fiasco, Alliance for Change leader, Nigel Hughes, during his party’s Friday press conference, expressed concern over the possibility of military officers being used to fill the vacant posts. He questioned the level of preparedness among such individuals, who may lack the necessary training and experience to manage polling stations effectively.

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• Elections, first time voters, GECOM, presiding officers, Vincent Alexander

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