By Travis Chase | HGP Nightly News |
Following the election of a new Leader of the Opposition, renewed calls are being made for major reforms to Guyana’s electoral system, with biometric voting emerging as a central issue the Opposition says must be addressed ahead of future elections.
APNU’s Parliamentary Leader, Dr. Terrence Campbell, has indicated that once formal parliamentary engagements resume with the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, electoral reform—particularly the implementation of biometric voting—will be among the top priorities.
Dr. Campbell said the Opposition intends to mount pressure on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to modernise the electoral framework, warning that the current system leaves room for abuse and undermines public confidence in the credibility of elections.
Echoing those concerns, Amanza Walton-Desir, Leader of the Forward Guyana Movement and a Member of Parliament, said known deficiencies within Guyana’s electoral machinery cannot be ignored.
She stressed that the system “cannot remain the same” if future elections are to be protected from controversy, adding that meaningful reform is necessary to safeguard democratic integrity.
The debate surrounding biometric voting is not new. In January 2019, GECOM Chairperson Claudette Singh ruled that while the law permits the electronic capture of fingerprints during voter registration and polling, it would be unconstitutional to rely exclusively on biometric data for voting. She also noted at the time that such a system could not be implemented in time for the 2025 General and Regional Elections.
Despite that ruling, opposition parties have continued to argue that a digital biometric system is essential, particularly given long-standing concerns over what they describe as a bloated voters’ list, allegedly containing the names of deceased persons and emigrants.
In the lead-up to the 2025 elections, APNU and the Alliance For Change (AFC) staged protests demanding the introduction of biometrics, insisting that electoral credibility and transparency were at risk.
International observers have also weighed in on the issue. In its post-election report, the Commonwealth Election Observers recommended that Guyana move toward a biometric system, citing persistent concerns about the accuracy and integrity of the voters’ list.
With a new Opposition Leader now in place and opposition parties signalling greater willingness to collaborate, the push for biometric voting and broader electoral reform appears poised to return to the forefront of Guyana’s political discourse.
