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Georgetown, Guyana — Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Nigel Hughes has underscored the importance of biometrics in the upcoming 2025 General and Regional Elections, stating that biometric verification would strengthen election security and improve confidence in the process. Addressing hosts Andrew Weekes and Onix Duncan on The Countdown, Hughes clarified that his recent meetings with other political leaders were focused solely on biometric technology and not coalition politics.
Hughes described how biometrics would add a “higher level of verification” to the voting process. He explained that voters’ fingerprints, already collected by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) during registration, would be cross-checked at polling stations. “Biometrics is particularly important for the delivery of a free, fair, and credible election,” Hughes said, adding that this system would prevent people from voting multiple times by flagging attempts to vote with different identification cards. “It’s not relying on some human looking at you and looking at the card and saying, yes, this is so,” Hughes continued, explaining that this verification removes reliance on visual ID checks.
Addressing concerns about national eligibility, Hughes acknowledged that biometrics alone cannot confirm voters’ nationality, a process which still relies on foundational registration procedures. “Biometrics will say the person who has presented this identification card is the person who voted… [but] it does not address any sort of fraudulent recording of people who are not Guyanese as Guyanese,” he explained.
Additionally, Hughes raised concerns about gaps in critical demographic data, such as the absence of census results and unknown figures on foreign nationals. Without this information, he argued, it is difficult to monitor who has received official identification cards or is eligible to vote. Hughes stressed that, while no system is foolproof, these measures are necessary to improve transparency. “We have not heard a credible reason why we can’t get the census results…when information is not available, people start to speculate, impacting the integrity of the electoral process,” he said.
When asked if the AFC would consider boycotting the elections over these issues, Hughes acknowledged the risks of non-participation, suggesting it could lead to a one-sided government if smaller parties participate. He noted the AFC’s willingness to take “all political action that is legal and permissible” and emphasized the party’s commitment to diplomatic engagement in securing fair electoral conditions.
