The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has received a total of 3,972 applications for proxy voting, and according to the Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Aneal Giddings, those applications are currently being processed.

A voter is entitled to vote by proxy at the September 1 General and Regional Elections if he or she is unable to go to the polling station where he or she is listed to vote on Elections Day, is visually impaired or physically incapacitated.

In other cases, a person is eligible to vote by proxy if he or she is engaged in the running of a vessel for the Transport and Habours Department or if he or she has been appointed as a Returning Officer or Election Official and is required to work outside of his or her district.

The deadline for submission was August 11, 2025.

At a press conference on Monday, the DCEO told reporters that the applications are being investigated at the level of the Returning Officers in various electoral districts.

“At this point we don’t have the figure of approved because all of these proxies have to undergo a process of investigation to determine whether they are appropriate and the ROs are doing their work in that regard as we speak. Once that is finalized, reports will be sent to the CEO,” Giddings explained.

Approval or disapproval will be based on the findings of the Returning Officers. According to Giddings, the Returning Officers are expected to submit their findings and reports to the GECOM Secretariat this week, no later than Friday.

While there were close to 4,000 applications, some political parties complained that the time frame for the submission of those applications to vote via proxy was extremely limited. Eligible voters were given just three days to submit their application to GECOM offices across the country. However, the Chief Election Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud said the timeline was in keeping with statutory guidelines.

“The issue of application of proxy could have only been done after we would have certified and post the Official List of Electors. But more than that, the last, according to law for the submission of application for proxies is 21 days before the elections, which happened to be on the 11^th August, and that is what we complied with. But I am going a bit beyond that, upon the close of applications for receipt of proxies, we have not received a single express of concern that there was someone who would have liked to apply for proxy and did not get the opportunity,” the CEO said.

In total, there are 757,690 persons listed to vote in the September 1 General and Regional Elections, and they will be voted across 2,790 polling stations in the 10 electoral districts.

According to statistics provided by GECOM, there are 24,453 electors listed to vote in Region One (Barima-Waini), 42,596 voters in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 116,876 voters in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West-Demerara), 323,436 voters in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 50,796 voters in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 111,554 voters in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 17,846 voters in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), 9,192 voters in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), 22,481 voters in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and 38,460 voters in Region 10 (Upper Demera-Berbice).

Additionally, there are 113 polling stations in Region One, 158 in Region Two, 407 in Region Three, 1,088 in Region Four, 193 in Region Five, 435 in Region Six, 99 in Region Seven, 58 in Region Eight, 91 in Region Nine and 148 in Region 10.

The Chief Elections Officer said as required by law, the Returning Officers for the various districts have already posted the list of electors, the list of polling stations, and the notice of poll.

According to him, polling stations can only be change outside of the statutory timeline if there is an emergency.

The ruling party – the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) – has, however, requested that some polling stations be “relocated.”

Persaud said the request has been discussed at the level of the secretariat, and a report would be submitted to the Elections Commission for its consideration.

“They did not ask for more polling stations but basically what they have done is to request that the polling stations be relocated to provide for better access for the voters in the specific target area. One area that comes to mind is Mon Repos,” he explained.

Members of the Disciplined Services are scheduled to vote on Friday, 10 days ahead of the General and Regional Elections.

Six parties are contesting the upcoming elections.

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