More voters, fewer votes: The hidden story of Guyana’s 2025 election

Sep 29, 2025 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Guyana’s 2025 general election delivered results no one could have imagined a decade ago. The governing PPP/C expanded its majority to 36 seats, APNU collapsed to just 12, and WIN, a first-time party, claimed 16 seats in a debut that signalled stunning voter realignment and changes in decades old voting patterns.  And under this all lies a telling number: turnout fell by 11.8% even as the electorate grew by 14.6%.

This paradox of more eligible voters, fewer actual votes – speaks to leadership quality, not paying attention, not doing your homework, taking your base for granted, neglecting the needs of your constituents, shifting loyalties, apathy and opportunism.  A look into this number reveals the very different attention given to the its underlying drivers by the two major parties going into the election, with one party giving high priority to it and the other seemingly unfocused – resulting in very different outcomes:

The Numbers Tell the Story

Of Guyana’s 2,792 polling divisions, 2,112 recorded lower turnout compared to 2020. In more than half of those, the decline was in the range of 10 – 25% – a staggering drop that signals not just inconvenience or indifference, but outright disengagement.

The effects were uneven. In the 680 divisions where turnout increased, the PPP/C captured 77% of them. WIN picked up 13%, APNU just 10%. These figures confirm that the governing party not only preserved its core but also succeeded in mobilising new support, especially in places like North Georgetown, once firmly in APNU’s column. By contrast, in Region 10 – APNU’s former bastion -the collapse was total. APNU failed to win a single polling division, while WIN took 35 and PPP/C 7.  For a party that had long assumed its base was unshakable, the message from voters was unmistakable: loyalty has limits.

APNU’s Freefall

The steepest losses came where APNU once stood tallest. Years of drift under David Granger left cracks that widened under Aubrey Norton’s uninspired leadership. Promising MPs defected. Grassroots activism withered. Strategic direction was absent.

The data shows that APNU’s undoing was not simply defections to PPP/C or WIN. It was abstention.  In many of its strongholds, more than one in four voters who had once turned out simply stayed home. The party did not just lose—it was abandoned.   Had the party under Norton been paying attention or doing its strategic analysis they would have seen from the 2020 election that the disengagement had begun – many Georgetown North districts 2020 vote totals were lower than in 2015. Although APNU still won the districts, the atrophy had begun.

PPP/C’s Resilience

The PPP/C’s steadiness has attracted less attention than APNU’s implosion or WIN’s breakthrough, but it may be the most important lesson of all. By holding its base and mobilising turnout where it mattered, the governing party expanded its majority even in an environment of broad disillusionment. That does not mean PPP/C is immune. A shrinking pool of engaged voters is a threat to every party. But in 2025, it was the only one that avoided the worst of the disengagement—and the numbers prove it.

WIN’s Opportunistic Surge

WIN’s debut captured headlines, though it was less about strategy than opportunity. Led by wealthy businessman Azruddin Mohamed, the party offered no clear platform or governing experience. Its appeal rested on timing, resources, and a social media-driven campaign that attracted younger voters and disaffected working-class citizens.

While WIN’s rise was real, it was fragile – built more on personality and circumstance than substance or policy. Whether it can convert this momentum into lasting political legitimacy remains uncertain.

Still its surge has striking significance.  Both WIN and the ruling PPP/C led by Indian Guyanese, while APNU has long been rooted in Guyana’s Afro-Guyanese base.  The 2025 results suggest that, while racial identity still matters, socio-economic discontent and generational change may be redrawing the political map.

Lessons from 2025

The election underscores several key lessons:

1. Disengagement is decisive. Parties can collapse not only when voters switch sides, but when they stop showing up at all.
2. Leadership matters. APNU’s failures were compounded by Norton’s inability to inspire or unify, accelerating the party’s decline.
3. Mobilisation pays. PPP/C’s ability to bring out its voters, even in difficult conditions, proved decisive.
4. Demographics are shifting. Young and mixed-race voters are the fastest-growing segment of the electorate, and their choices—or abstention—are increasingly shaping outcomes.

Voter Disengagement

The drama of 2025 tempts us to focus on party fortunes: APNU’s collapse, WIN’s surge, PPP/C’s quiet strengthening. But a critical part of the story is the voters who stayed home. A party and a democracy cannot thrive if each election brings more eligible citizens but fewer actual participants.

For Guyana’s democracy, questions ahead include whether WIN can sustain and whether APNU can rebuild.   The latter depends on whether APNU has learn its lesson.  The first step of a disenchanted base is to abstain, moving is not easy for many people who had a lifetime association with the party, but we have seen it happen with more than half of its base.  The party has some serious work at hand.

Regards,

Ron Cheong

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