REGION Three Private Sector Inc (R3PSInc) Chairman, Halim Khan, is calling into question the credibility, analytical depth and overall grounding of the European Union Election Observation Mission’s (EU EOM) final report on Guyana’s 2025 General and Regional Elections, describing the document as disconnected from on-the-ground realities and overly reliant on political assertions.

In a forthright assessment aligned with earlier concerns raised by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, Khan said the EU’s conclusions fail to meet the standard expected of an international election evaluation.

“The EU report lacks depth, lacks context and lacks connection to what happened on the ground,” Khan asserted. “It relies too heavily on political complaints rather than objective observation. That is not how you assess an election.”

Khan referenced President Ali’s televised response, in which the Head of State questioned the independence of certain EU-hired personnel and challenged several sections of the document, including claims of an “uneven playing field” and “incumbency advantage,” which the President noted were unsupported by facts.

Khan said the EU failed to recognise that many of the government’s programmes it cited were long-standing commitments outlined publicly in budgets and manifestos.

“Delivering on a manifesto is not an ‘advantage,’ it is governance,” he said. “Any analysis must differentiate between state resources being misused and a government implementing the development agenda it was elected to carry out.”

He added that the EU’s minimal treatment of major electoral reforms currently underway—including constitutional review, campaign finance discussions and broader institutional strengthening—reflected a lack of nuance.

At the same time, Khan acknowledged that not every aspect of the electoral process was without fault, pointing to the EU’s finding that 59 per cent of polling stations lacked independent access for persons with disabilities.

“That is a legitimate point and one the government has already committed to addressing,” he noted.

However, he stressed that the credibility of the overall document is weakened when valid observations are placed alongside what he described as subjective or poorly supported conclusions.

“As a private sector leader, I welcome scrutiny. But scrutiny must be fair, rigorous and grounded in facts,” he said.

Khan urged international partners to adopt a more comprehensive, context-driven approach when assessing Guyana’s elections, noting that such analyses shape global perceptions, investor sentiment and broader confidence in the country’s democratic and economic direction.

“The 2025 elections were peaceful, credible and widely accepted,” he stated. “Reports must reflect that reality—not distort it.”

He reaffirmed the private sector’s commitment to supporting continued reforms, constructive engagement with all observers and sustained efforts to enhance voter accessibility, transparency and institutional resilience.

“The task ahead is to keep improving,” Khan said. “But improvement begins with honest, factual assessments, not flawed analyses.”