WIN will not accept election results if polling agents not approved

Aug 30, 2025 News

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…GECOM says party missed deadline to submit; matter to be considered by Commission

Kaieteur News – The We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party on Friday accused the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) of not approving its polling agents for 10 districts and noted that if its agents are not approved, then the party will not accept the results of Monday’s election. GECOM has since denied the accusation stating that WIN failed to submit its applications on time.

In a statement, WIN said that the elections commission’s decision not to approve its polling agents “will not go unanswered.”

Party candidate Duarte Hetsberger said, “We stand here today not for ourselves but for every voter in Guyana who deserves the free, fair and transparent election on September 1. GECOM’s decision not to approve our polling agents will not go unanswered. Let us be clear that the deadline notice was deficient as it did not include the email contact information to which the polling agents’ information should be sent.”

Hetsberger explained that on August 26, a day after the deadline, the party received an email containing the contact information for the Returning Officers of the 10 districts. He said they began submission on the same day and concluded all submissions the following day.

“But what is at stake here is much bigger than a deadline, GECOM itself has been late and not by one or two days. They were late in the opening of proxy applications; they were late in the gazetting of the polling stations which by law was due 20 days before elections. In some cases, they were late in the notice of poll. So how can GECOM demand perfection from political parties while they themselves repeatedly missed their own statutory and constitutional deadlines,” he explained.

Another WIN candidate, Natasha Singh-Lewis stated that without polling agents there is no transparency. “No agents mean no eyes, no witnesses, no accountability, at the very place where votes are cast and counted. If GECOM bars out polling agents they are creating a dangerous gap, one wide enough for dishonesty and fraud to creep in,” she expressed.

Singh-Lewis noted that if that happens, “WIN cannot and will not accept the results of an election process that is hidden from scrutiny.”

The politician said that the situation not only affects WIN but all Guyanese noting that it is every Guyanese’s right to an election process that is credible, reliable, transparent and accountable.

Without agents at the polling stations, the WIN candidate said citizens’ rights are being violated, and democracy is threatened. Singh-Lewis called on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Commonwealth, the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and all other international observers to pay attention to what is transpiring at the elections commission.

“Elections are not free and fair when the electoral body is sloppy, inconsistent and unfair, the world must know that the credibility of Guyana’s elections is now under serious question,” she stated.

Similarly, another WIN candidate Tabitha Sarabo-Haley said the non-approval of the polling agents is to deny democracy.

“We call on GECOM to not become complicit in vote rigging, do not undermine the very principles you were sworn to uphold and we call on every Guyanese citizen to stand with WIN, stand with democracy and stand for your right with a clean, fair and transparent vote because at the end of the day this is not about deadline this is about defending democracy and we will defend it today, tomorrow and on September 1,” she disclosed.

Notwithstanding the claims made by WIN, GECOM in a subsequent statement said that WIN’s assertions are untrue. The commission said the Chief Elections Officer sent an email dated August 11, 2025, to the election agents of all contesting political parties reminding them that “Party Agents shall “give notice in writing of every appointment of an assistant agent, counting agent, polling agent, and alternate polling agents, stating the name and address of the person appointed”, NO LATER THAN THE 7TH DAY BEFORE ELECTION DAY, to the Returning Officer.”

GECOM noted that it is not the responsibility of the Commission to so do.

GECOM said WIN did not comply with the requirement within the prescribed time.

“Their suggestion that GECOM has failed in its duty is therefore inaccurate and misleading. While GECOM is strictly upholding the electoral laws as written, the Commission was prepared to consider flexibility regarding the issue of late submission, at the Commission’s Meeting on Thursday, August 28, 2025, to ensure that all contesting parties, including the WIN Party, have polling agents in place. However, the discussions did not take place because of a loss of quorum,” the agency noted.

GECOM said that the matter is likely to be considered at a meeting today that has been scheduled by Chair of the Commission Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh.

Further, GECOM urged all political parties to comply with the law and act responsibly in their public communications and noted that spreading misleading claims risks undermining public confidence in the electoral process, which is unacceptable at this crucial time.

“The Commission reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that the General and Regional Elections on September 1, 2025 are free, fair, transparent, and credible. This is to guarantee transparency and to ensure that no doubts are cast on the credibility of the elections before polling day,” GECOM stated.

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• Election, fair, free, GECOM, Polling agents, results, transparent, We Invest in Nationhood

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