US to provide security training for local police ahead of Sept. polls
US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot
US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot

THE United States of America will be providing security expertise and training to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) ahead of the September 2025 general and regional elections.
This is according to the US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, who, on Wednesday, told reporters that the support will come from either the Las Vegas or Miami-Dade Police Department, upon a request from the GPF.

“What we will be doing very shortly is bringing in police trainers from—we haven’t settled yet on either Las Vegas or Miami-Dade—to provide election security training to help the GPF to be prepared for whatever might come; hopefully nothing; hopefully, it will be nice and peaceful but we are going to be doing that,” the ambassador said.

Further, she noted that the training is a part of wider coordinated support that is being provided by the US, British, Canadian, and European Union (ABCEU) missions.
She noted that the US is also funding two-thirds of the Organization of American States (OAS) election observation mission to Guyana and is also working closely with the Carter Center, which has already deployed a delegation to the country.

Ranks of the Guyana Police Force are expected to be supported with expertise training ahead of the September 2025 general and regional elections

The US observer mission will have just about 50 personnel who will monitor the process from the polling stations to the declaration of the results.
“The strength of Guyana’s democracy is incredibly important to the United States, so what we have done is we have actually coordinated with the other international missions, the ABCE, and we have all made sure that we’re all working with a different part of election support,” she said.

Just last month chiefs of mission of the ABCEU met with political contenders for the upcoming polls.
In addition to Ambassador Theriot, United Kingdom (UK) High Commissioner Jane Miller, Canadian High Commissioner Sébastien Sigouin, and European Union (EU) Ambassador Rene van Nes conducted a series of meetings engaging the leaders of the parties separately on matters related to the election.

Representing the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) during this engagement at Freedom House were General Secretary of the PPP, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Executive Secretary, Zulfikar Mustapha, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hugh Todd.

The diplomats also met with People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Leader Aubrey Norton and his team at PNCR headquarters and Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Nigel Hughes and AFC executive members.

The last general and regional elections were held on March 2, 2020. It was widely reported that an international Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the 2020 elections found evidence of collusion among senior GECOM officials to manipulate results in favour of the APNU+AFC coalition.

The CoI report highlighted brazen attempts by officials to derail the vote-counting process, and declared that former GECOM Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO at GECOM Roxanne Myers; and former Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo were principally responsible for efforts to subvert the election results. The accused remain out on cash bail as the trial continues.

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