GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — Election Commissioner Vincent Alexander has accused the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) of failing to modernize its approach to voter access, saying its refusal to accommodate offshore oil rig workers is the latest example of what he calls “retrogressive” election management.
In a letter to the press on Monday, August 11, Alexander said GECOM’s administration — in collaboration with government-nominated commissioners and the Chair — has blocked important reforms, including introducing biometrics and cleaning the voters’ list of deceased names.
But his most pointed criticism centered on what he described as the Commission’s inaction over a growing voter-access problem: how to ensure the hundreds of Guyanese working on offshore oil rigs, sometimes more than 200 miles from shore, can vote on election day.
Alexander noted that current election laws already allow certain groups, such as Transport and Harbours Department staff, to vote by proxy, and members of the joint services and non-resident Guyanese to vote by postal ballot. Those laws, he said, were passed before Guyana’s oil industry even existed. “The situation faced by offshore workers today is more dire and logistically complex,” he argued, adding that a forward-thinking GECOM could have pushed for legislative changes to extend those rights to oil workers.
Instead, Alexander said, the Commission has “repeatedly insisted” it cannot initiate such amendments, claiming it is outside its remit — a stance he believes contradicts its constitutional mandate to address electoral challenges.
The Commissioner acknowledged he was late in raising the issue but said it had been brought to GECOM before and ignored. He compared the situation to GECOM’s handling of voting rights for incarcerated persons, which he said the body has also “chosen not to address,” while devoting energy to blocking the possibility of votes being cast for overseas Guyanese “probably dead, or not in-country on E-Day.”
Guyana’s offshore oil industry has expanded rapidly since ExxonMobil’s first major oil discovery in 2015, with thousands of workers now supporting the sector. Most rig shifts last weeks at a time, making it nearly impossible for those stationed offshore to be in-country to vote without special provisions.
Alexander’s remarks highlight a growing debate about whether Guyana’s electoral system is keeping pace with the country’s changing economic realities. While GECOM has yet to publicly respond to his latest claims, the question remains whether oil workers — the backbone of the nation’s booming petroleum sector — will have a voice at the ballot box in the next general election.
