THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is the entity responsible for the administration and conduct of elections in Guyana. GECOM is headed by a Chairman and six Commissioners.
So far, it has been doing a good job in ensuring that the will of the electorate prevails. Except for the pre-1992 period when General and Regional Elections were blatantly and massively rigged in favour of the then authoritarian PNC regime, all elections since 1992 were by and large free, fair and transparent.

Prior to 1991, the Guyana Elections Commission was made up of a Chairman who was appointed by the President and one member in respect of each political party which had no fewer than five seats in the National Assembly.
The Commission had a temporary life in that a member had to vacate office within three months of the date of an election.

Electoral reform in Guyana commenced in 1990 and continued throughout the period preceding the 2001 General and Regional Elections. During that period, the composition of GECOM was changed from time to time to allow for the conduct of the October 1992 elections, the first democratically held election for close to three decades, thanks to PNC authoritarian rule. For the 1992 and 1997 elections, the Elections Commission was still a temporary institution for each election.

The present GECOM was established in May, 2000 by way of an amendment to the constitution which repealed and re-enacted article 161 of the constitution on the basis of recommendations emanating from the Constitution Reform Commission, which were ratified by Parliament.
The re-enacted article 161 re-stated the same mechanism for the appointment of the Commission as provided for since the 1992 general elections, but the Commission is now established as a permanent body.

All of the powers which were previously exercised by, or on behalf of the minister responsible for the preparation for, and administration of elections are now vested in the Commission.
It is no secret that prior to 1992, the Elections Commission was under the influence and control of the then ruling PNC regime, and to a large extent, facilitated the perpetuation of PNC authoritarian rule through fraudulent means.

All of that, thankfully, is now behind us, even though some indications of partisan loyalties were very much in evidence during the March 2020 General and Regional elections. The fact that elements within GECOM were unable to get their way in influencing the outcome of the elections is testimony to changing times.

Democracy and the rule of law are today much more institutionalised than was the case during the pre-1992 period, as was evident in the 2020 General and Regional Elections, when attempts were made by the APNU+AFC coalition in collaboration with ‘rogue’ elements from the GECOM Secretariat to subvert the democratic process.

The above notwithstanding, there are still fresh attempts made by the main political opposition to undermine confidence in GECOM to deliver free and fair elections. Only recently, Vice-President and General Secretary of the PPP, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo had cause to reprimand the political opposition for what he described as an ‘ orchestrated, audacious demonisation’ of GECOM.

According to Dr. Jagdeo, this was done with the intent to destroy the credibility of GECOM in a very unfair manner by a number of fringe organisations and political parties, all with the same aim — destroying the credibility of GECOM.
The fact is that the Guyana Elections Commission has come a long way since that dark period of PNC dictatorial rule. Hence, the need for continuing vigilance by all democratic forces in and out of Guyana to ensure that the will of the electorate prevails in the forthcoming national and regional elections.