–says secretariat still functioning despite Commission’s impasse

THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has pushed back against claims by Commissioner Vincent Alexander that it is “comatose”, insisting that its Secretariat remains fully operational even though the Commission itself has not met since September 2025.
In a statement responding to a letter Alexander published under the headline “‘Comatose’ GECOM needs urgent judicial or legislative intervention”, GECOM said it wished to correct “mischaracterisations” about its functioning, the Chairman’s engagement with diplomats, and the make-up of the Commission.
GECOM disputed the assertion that the Chairman and the Chief Election Officer convened a meeting with Heads of Diplomatic Missions to discuss the conduct of elections.
According to the statement, the five Heads of Mission requested the meeting themselves. Given the support the diplomatic community gave during the 2025 General and Regional Elections, the Chairman considered it “both appropriate and an institutional obligation” to agree.
GECOM said the Chairman does not need prior clearance from individual Commissioners to engage stakeholders, and that the meeting was not unprecedented. It said she took part in similar engagements with Heads of Mission during preparations for the 2025 polls, without Commissioners present.
The Commission distinguished between policy matters, which require deliberation and decisions by the Commission, and operational matters. The Chairman, it said, has avoided discussing policy issues.
The Chief Election Officer is invited to give technical and administrative briefings when operational matters are on the agenda, which GECOM said was the approach taken at the recent meeting.
It concluded there was no basis to suggest the Chairman acted without authority or claimed to speak for Commission decisions that had not been made.
Acknowledging that the Commission has not convened since September 2025, GECOM said this should not be confused with the functioning of the institution.
The Secretariat, it said, has continued to carry out its statutory duties, including registration services, maintenance of registration records and other authorised operational and administrative functions. It added that the organisation has kept working on strengthening internal procedures and systems and consolidating recent modernisation gains.
GECOM conceded that the absence of Commission meetings has “undoubtedly constrained” matters requiring collective deliberation and approval, but called it “wholly inaccurate” to say the institution has ceased functioning.
On the Commission’s composition, GECOM said the Chairman remains guided by Article 161(3)(b) of the Constitution.
Her earlier reference to the convening of Parliament, the statement said, rested on the expectation that after the 2025 elections and the emergence of a new Leader of the Opposition, the Opposition’s representation on the Commission would be dealt with urgently.
Parliament has since convened, but GECOM said the matter “remains active among the opposition parliamentary parties and has not yet been resolved.”
GECOM called it regrettable that the Chairman’s adherence to this constitutional position had been described as a unilateral or arbitrary freezing of the Commission’s operations.
It nonetheless said the Chairman agrees with Alexander that urgent attention is needed, and suggested that legislative action, if the relevant constitutional authorities consider it necessary, could bring clarity.
Alexander’s letter reportedly listed items he said had not received attention, including evaluation of the 2025 elections, further electoral modernisation, implementation of observer recommendations, preparations for Local Government Elections, finalisation of administrative manuals and the filling of critical vacancies.
GECOM said it recognises their importance but argued that the Secretariat handles what falls within its mandate, while matters needing policy direction or formal approval must go through the Commission. It said it would be inappropriate to attribute every pending item to administrative inaction by the Secretariat.
GECOM said it remains committed to its constitutional and statutory responsibilities and pointed to the technological and procedural improvements used in the 2025 elections as evidence of its capacity.
The secretariat, it said, will continue to provide essential services and advance improvements that do not require prior Commission decisions.
GECOM said it remains hopeful that the issue of the Commission’s composition will be resolved so that its collective decision-making can “resume without further delay.”