GUYANA | Guyanese Democracy Demands More Than a Declaration Says Lincoln Lewis

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, September 11, 2025 - The 2025 Elections may be over for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), but the process that led to the declaration, questioned by some and accepted by others, must not be considered finished business for any citizen who values the right to vote, a right for which generations of workers have shed blood.

As a trade unionist, I hold an abiding interest in this matter. It was the labour movement under the great Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow that led the charge for one-man-one-vote back in 1926.

That historical fight wasn’t for ceremony or decoration. It was to place power into the hands of the working class and the ordinary man and woman. Today, that power is again under threat, and it is our duty to defend it.

We must be clear-eyed. The 2025 elections were plagued by serious challenges and signs of systemic incompetence. If these are not addressed with urgency and seriousness, then the Local Government Elections of 2026 and the General and Regional Elections of 2030 risk repeating the same disgrace.

If we allow this, we betray not only our democratic responsibilities but the very essence of who we are as a people.

Time and time again, I have raised concerns about GECOM’s repeated failure to facilitate a process that can truly be called free, fair and credible. This country continues to strive for political integrity, yet we keep falling short.

Observer missions swoop in every five years, issue their reports, tick boxes, and fly out while we are left to clean up the mess, to confront the divisions and tensions that follow every election.

From their inaction, it seems they are more interested in appearances than substance, in presenting a picture of democracy rather than ensuring the real thing.

Their presentations to the world do not reflect the truth that we, the people, live. GECOM hides behind these endorsements while ignoring the calls of citizens for electoral reform, calls that fall on deaf ears both at the commission and in the halls of power.

This year, a few of the observer missions were bold enough to touch on the issues that we, the Guyanese people, have been shouting about for years. But lip service is not enough.

The international community must move from talking the talk to walking the walk. If they cannot back up their principles with action, then they must be called out for what they are, participants in a charade that undermines democracy in the developing world while padding their resumes.

We, the people of Guyana, demand action. As we demanded in 2020 and as we demand again in 2025, GECOM, the Government, and the National Assembly must commit to the urgent work of reform.

This includes sanitising the voters’ list, implementing biometrics, and enacting every safeguard necessary to deliver elections that truly reflect the will of the people. That means a process where voters are real, living, resident, and bona fide citizens of this country. Nothing less will suffice.

The people who built this nation, our workers, our ancestors, fought too hard for too long to allow their sacrifice to be mocked by fraudulent or incompetent systems.

The reported 49 percent voter turnout should set off alarm bells. This is not democracy functioning at its best. It is a cry of disillusionment. It means that nearly half of eligible voters have lost faith, either in the process or in the options presented to them.

That is not just a statistic. It is a national shame. Our vote is our voice, our power. And a voiceless people are a powerless people. We must be engaged not only at elections but every day, as part of a vigilant and active citizenry holding all leaders to account.

While GECOM continues to disappoint, one small mercy this year is that our children were spared the trauma of violence. No school buses attacked. No children harmed. No nurses or public servants assaulted. No buildings stormed.

Our men and women ​in uniform spared the threats and insults of the public for doing their jobs. That alone is a blessing, but it cannot mask the deeper rot. Law and order must never be optional or selective. Too often in this country, some believe the law is only valid when it works in their favour. That mindset must end.

However, even as some breathe a sigh of relief, many still see and feel the double standards that continue to breed mistrust, ethnic tension, and social unrest.

True peace, not the silence of suppression but the peace of justice, will only come when all are held to the same standard and no group is above scrutiny or accountability.

To those who desire a better Guyana, let me say this: we must be the guardians of our democracy. The next five years will not improve if we sit on our hands and hope for the best.

We must hold our elected representatives and ourselves to the high standards of justice, accountability, and good governance. That is the only way we move forward.

We now stand at a crossroads. Will we let fear, injustice, and exclusion rule? Or will we rise like the true heirs of this land and demand our fair share? Will we settle for crumbs while a few, both foreign and local, feast off our resources and labour? Or will we fight, united and unrelenting, for a nation that delivers for all its people?

We have hard choices ahead. Let us make them with courage, with conviction, and with the legacy of Critchlow and the working class guiding our hands.

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