If parties join lists, single seat won cannot be rotated – GECOM rules 

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Thursday finally came up with a definitive position on the allocation where more than one parties join their lists to contest elections.

Parties can join their lists, and the total amount of votes the parties receive determines whether they get a seat in the National Assembly. This decision came after major contention with the last three parties- ANUG, LJP and TNM- that joined their list to contest the 2020 elections.

See below the full release from the Guyana Elections Commission: 

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) at its Statutory meeting  held on Thursday, 10th July, 2025 concluded extensive deliberations about Joinder of Lists, and Filling of  Vacancies in the National Assembly. The Commission’s determination of this matter was premised entirely on the legal framework. Accordingly, the Commission concluded that the following must be applied: 

1.Joinder of Lists 

Under Section 22(1) of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA), two or more political party  candidate lists may be combined for the purpose of allocation of seats in parliament. This combination  is referred to as a “joinder of lists.” 

Important points to note: 

• Ballots are not cast for the combination; The Parties in the combination will be listed separately  on the ballot paper. 
• The combination is treated as one List for the purpose of seat allocation. 

2.Rules Governing Joinder Lists 

1. To calculate seat distribution among the Parties involved in joinder of lists the valid votes across for  all of the Lists in the combination are added together. 
2. Before ascertaining the allocation of seats within the combination, a determination needs to  be made whether the combination won seats in the National Assembly.
3. The allocation of seats in the National Assembly is determined by dividing the total number  of valid votes cast for all of the contesting Lists of Candidates by 65 to find the electoral quota  of votes per seat.
4. Providing the combination won seats in the National Assembly, an electoral quota needs to  be established within the combination to determine how seats would be distributed therein. The electoral quota is determined by dividing the total number of valid votes received by the combination by the number of seats allocated to the combination.
5. The total votes received by each party in the combination are divided by the quota to determine the  allocation of seats within the combination.
6. In the case of a seat within the combination, the party with the largest number of surplus  votes will get that unallocated seat.
7. In the case of only one seat having been won by the combination, that seat shall go to the  Party that received the largest number of votes among all of the parties in the combination. 

• Note: Each party in the joinder retains its own Representative and Deputy Representative for the  purpose of extraction of candidates to become Members of the National Assembly. Therefore, it is  ONLY the Representative or Deputy Representative of the Party(ies) that are allocated seats can  do such extraction.  

3. Filling of vacancies in Parliament (Section 99A) 

If a parliamentary seat becomes vacant (for reasons other than a full dissolution of Parliament), the  vacancy must be filled by: 

• A person not already an elected member, but qualified and willing to serve. 
• Someone whose name appears on the same list from which the original MP was elected. • The selection is done by further extraction from that list, by the Representative or Deputy Representative of the said List.