deeming the body’s unreadiness a recipe for chaos, and formally called for the elections to be rescheduled. Last Thursday, sixteen political parties attended a briefing hosted by GECOM to review the final procedures leading up to Nomination Day and the September 1 General and Regional Elections. However, several parties raised strong doubts about GECOM’s readiness. Alliance For Change (AFC) members, Nicole Trotman and Beverly Alert, speaking with reporters after the briefing, criticised the Commission’s failure to resolve longstanding issues, particularly those affecting smaller political parties. Alert, in particular, pointed to GECOM’s inaction on the “joinder list” mechanism, a system that allows smaller parties to combine forces and share parliamentary representation.

“The intent of the meeting was to share information ahead of the 2025 elections. Many of the concerns raised, especially by the smaller parties, pertained to the joinder system, specifically, how representatives are identified for the National Assembly,” Alert said. “It is clear that GECOM has not addressed this. They have not put their minds to it. They have not addressed so many other things. I have zero confidence in GECOM holding elections. They are absolutely not ready.” Trotman added that the Commission’s inability to answer fundamental questions despite having had years to do so was alarming. “If you have smaller parties that are very interested in joining, and you’ve had this very issue for over two years, and then come to a briefing where you can’t answer a fundamental question, then that shows the level of preparedness GECOM has,” she stated. Both members concluded by calling on GECOM to take the “honourable” step of rescheduling the September 1 elections. “Of course, GECOM should do the honourable thing. They are simply not ready,” they declared. Chairman of A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Dr. Mark France, also harshly criticised the Commission over its failure to address longstanding concerns regarding the joinder list system. France pointed to systemic gaps that have already negatively impacted ANUG’s participation in the electoral process. “One of the major contentious points — and this is something that has affected ANUG — is how the joinder list actually functions. GECOM has had two and a half years and is still unable to determine how a joinder list should operate with regard to the combination of lists,” Dr. France said.

He cited ANUG’s past experience with Dr. Asha Kissoon as an example of how the current system fails in practice. “We had the unfortunate experience of Asha Kissoon replacing her representative from the list, and that representative was put through a faulty system. Clearly, GECOM hasn’t addressed it. If it wasn’t resolved in two and a half years, how can they address it in a matter of days?” France expressed concern that, despite claims of readiness, GECOM has neglected one of the few tools smaller or newer parties can use to compete meaningfully.

Out of frustration, France also announced that ANUG will be pursuing legal recourse to compel GECOM to clarify its position on the matter before Nomination Day. “The current executive of ANUG is planning to take this matter to court. This is something GECOM must have a position on before elections. You can’t have an issue that’s gone unresolved for two years,” he warned. (Kaieteur News)