As Guyana awaits an official date for the next General and Regional Elections from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo has affirmed that the nation will head to the polls by October-November 2025.
He was at the time dispelling claims made by Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader, Nigel Hughes that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s recent outreaches across country are indicative of campaigning for an early election.
“The tea leaves are suggesting that there is likely to be an early election. Government Ministers are holding public meetings. There can be no election without the census results being published first and a clean electoral list. The bloated list of electors will not cut it. Why subject the country to another problematic election,” Hughes said in a Facebook post.
During his press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo said, “It’s all just a bunch of nonsense”.
Jagdeo said his government and all of its cabinet members have long been conducting outreaches all across Guyana which is indicative of its drive to ensure that the concerns of Guyanese are heard and addressed no matter their location.
The Vice President also asserted that his party is committed to holding a fair and transparent election and is not rushing the process. Furthermore, he said that his a manual will be prepared and shared with the local media, political parties, and other stakeholders, which will sever to given an outline of the duties, obligations, responsibilities, rights of every member who will be overseeing the conduct of the elections.
“You will see which documents have to go into the box and which doesn’t so if the Presiding Officer does not want to put a document into the box, you will know if he committed an offence because (we) don’t have room for people calling up last minute and create confusion,” Jagdeo told media.
This was noted as he highlighted that the manual will also be circulated to GECOM officers and polling agents.