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Georgetown, Guyana — GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander has publicly questioned Attorney General Anil Nandlall’s prolonged silence regarding critical election verification data, asserting that essential information on alleged voter impersonation has remained unaddressed since 2022. In a letter dated November 2, 2024, Alexander claims that while Nandlall took possession of unverified voter lists purportedly for verifying overseas votes, two years have passed without any public report or findings.
Alexander highlighted the voter list’s alleged inaccuracies, describing it as “bloated” with names of individuals deceased or residing abroad. According to Alexander’s letter, a sample verification conducted in May 2020 revealed that out of 307 names submitted for review, 172 were confirmed to be overseas on election day. “The Chairperson of GECOM had not brought to the attention of the CARICOM Observer Mission the existence of the aforementioned information,” Alexander noted, despite the observers’ presence in Guyana during the 2020 election.
Additional Observation Reports from that election year corroborate allegations of impersonation across several electoral districts. District 4, for instance, recorded over 1,700 suspected cases involving individuals reportedly deceased or outside Guyana’s jurisdiction on election day, while similar cases were noted in Districts 2 and 3, among others. Responses from the Chief Immigration Officer and General Registrar’s Office were said to have confirmed cases of alleged impersonation.
Despite these findings and previous commitments to verify the data, Alexander contends that Nandlall has failed to release any updates. “The existence of evidence that votes were cast for persons who were out of the country clearly shows that GECOM’s system…is not fool-proof,” Alexander’s letter argues, describing Nandlall’s insistence on the system’s integrity as “baseless.”
Observer missions from organizations including the Carter Center, the EU, CARICOM, and the Commonwealth have issued numerous recommendations aimed at bolstering the credibility and transparency of Guyana’s electoral system—recommendations that have yet to see implementation under the current government. Among these are calls to overhaul the composition of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) by engaging independent experts and civil society to ensure it remains free from political interference.
These reports urge a timely, systematic publication of GECOM’s procedures and decisions, clearer electoral laws, and transparent voter registration reforms to prevent inaccuracies. Additionally, the missions recommend comprehensive written guidelines for vote counting and tabulation to avoid inconsistencies, along with legal revisions on campaign financing. While these reforms are seen as essential for fair electoral practices, the failure to enact them remains a point of contention and public concern.
As Guyana approaches its next national elections, Alexander’s challenge underscores the need for transparency and thorough verification of election data to address potential voter list issues, build public trust, and maintain election integrity.
