AHEAD of the September 1 General and Regional Elections, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has raised concerns about political aspirants threatening persons and fraudulently putting backers on their list.

During a press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, the General Secretary, who also serves as Guyana’s Vice-President urged the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to take firm action against these efforts to subvert the will of the electorate.

Dr. Jagdeo said: “GECOM should take firm action against any party threatening people not to go on any party’s list. They should also take action against parties fraudulently putting backers on their list.”

Further, he cautioned citizens that representatives of some parties may tell them that they are signing up for sports teams or cash grants, but instead, they are being used as party nominators.

To qualify for election participation, political parties are required to adhere to specific submission guidelines. They must present their approved party symbol along with their candidate lists: one National Top-Up List, at least six Geographical Constituencies’ Lists, and the Regional Democratic Councils’ Lists.

The National Top-Up list, which identifies the Presidential candidate, must have at least 42 candidates and between 300 and 330 nominators countrywide. Each Geographical Constituency List must have between 150 and 175 nominators from each geographical constituency.

Recently, GECOM reviewed several critical matters as part of its ongoing preparations for the upcoming General and Regional Elections slated for September 1, 2025.

This was according to People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)-nominated commissioner, Sase Gunraj in an invited comment to the Guyana Chronicle.
He said that among the decisions discussed was a move to revise the official nomination forms to include a declaration clause.

This new addition would require nominators to affirm that they knowingly signed the documents, a step aimed at strengthening transparency and accountability in the candidate nomination process.

Commissioners also deliberated on the appointment of Returning Officers (ROs) and Supernumerary Returning Officers (SROs), who will play key roles in the administration and oversight of the electoral process across the various electoral districts.

Further to this, discussions also included possible locations for the RO and SRO offices. Additionally, the commission also reviewed the most recent cross-matching (fingerprints) report on duplicate applications for registration.

The meeting served as part of the series of engagements that the commission will go through as it ramps up preparation for the September 1, 2025 election.
Previous meetings of the commission since the announcement of the election date by President Ali were derailed by opposition-nominated commissioners.