Carter Center hails electoral process

The Carter Center, an accredited body to observe the country’s 2025 General and Regional Elections on Wednesday said there is no evidence of the official list of electors (OLE) being manipulated.

This was disclosed by Jason Carter, the Mission’s Leader during a press conference at the Pegasus Corporate Suites, Georgetown as he revealed the mission’s preliminary statement.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has faced criticism over the OLE as it does not have the power to remove a person’s name.

“We did not find any evidence that the list was manipulated. There is, of course, just looking at the numbers, you know that there are people who could come off of that list because they don’t exist, probably, you know, because they’ve passed away,” Carter said.

Voting took place at 2,790 polling stations in 1,140 polling places across the country. The OLE consisted of 757,690 voters.

The Carter Center has also noted that 97 per cent of the reports received regarding the tabulation affirmed that it was being conducted in accordance with the law.

“All of them [observers] said that they were doing it in accordance with the law. That process is cumbersome, but it is ongoing, it is transparent, and when it’s complete, I think people will have trust in the results,” Carter said.

The mission hailed GECOM’s “find my polling station” as a positive initiative. Further, the utilisation of online websites to provide information were notable improvements for transparency and access.

“Observers on Election Day found that polling staff, party agents, and GECOM, conducted themselves well and with professionalism.

“We did not see any significant irregularities of any kind,” Carter said.

According to the preliminary statement, the participation of women in this year’s election was significant and this included both voters and persons engaged in electoral duties.

Additionally, the participation of persons from the LGBTQI+ community was also noted. The mission said the contesting parties publicly endorsed the rights of this community and pledged reforms to ensure equality.

The Carter Center welcomed these initiatives aimed at advancing the enforcement of fundamental rights in Guyana and hopes that all parties will fully support the rights of the LGBTQI persons in future elections.