By Marvin Cato | HGP Nightly News|
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – Months after a difficult performance in the 2025 General and Regional Elections, Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader David Patterson announced that his party is prepared to re-enter the electoral arena for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE).
However, in an exclusive interview with Nightly News, Patterson issued a stern warning regarding the administrative preparedness and structural integrity of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). He argued that the current state of the commission could leave upcoming municipal polls vulnerable to systemic mismanagement.
Resource Wealth and Systemic Corruption Apprehensions
Patterson contextualized the AFC’s return to the polls within a broader critique of Guyana’s current governance landscape. He noted that the rapid accumulation of national petroleum revenues has unfortunately exacerbated structural vulnerabilities rather than alleviating them.
“Corruption is endemic in Guyana,” Patterson asserted. “International corruption indices continue to list Guyana as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. With the bountiful, vast resources now available to us from our oil sectors, that corruption has only become more deeply entrenched.”
The AFC leader explained that robust, decentralized local governance remains a key mechanism to combat the centralized concentration of wealth, making the party’s participation in the upcoming local polls essential despite its recent general election defeat.
GECOM Gridlock and Unfilled Executive Seats
The core of the AFC’s structural grievance centers on the operational status of GECOM’s executive leadership tier. Patterson revealed that political gridlock surrounding the appointment of opposition-nominated commissioners—disrupted in part by procedural transitions under incoming Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed—has effectively paralyzed the regulatory body.
According to Patterson, the commission’s operational vulnerabilities include:
- A Prolonged Hiatus: The full Elections Commission has not officially met or convened a voting session since September 2025.
- Executive Leadership Vacancies: Out of approximately ten critical, top-tier managerial positions required to operate GECOM’s national apparatus, roughly six to eight positions remain entirely unfilled.
- The Oversight Deficit: Due to the ongoing boardroom vacancy gridlock, the commission has been unable to legally review, audit, or approve standard operational work programs.
The Risk of an Unchecked Secretariat
Patterson warned that if the commission fails to resolve its current composition bottlenecks, Guyana could slide into an unprecedented scenario where national elections are managed exclusively by the Chief Election Officer (CEO) and the permanent secretariat, completely insulated from bipartisan board oversight.
“The commission itself has to sign off on the work program—it has to sign off on every single element of the election,” Patterson explained accessibly. “If they haven’t met for months, how can that legally or transparently be done? While the AFC stands ready to return to the electoral battlefield, we remain profoundly concerned about the basic integrity of any election held under GECOM’s current operational framework.”
The AFC is calling on regional observers and the statutory local government commission to demand an immediate regularization of GECOM’s senior staff seats before official nomination days are gazetted.
