By KNEWS

Copyright kaieteurnewsonline

WIN’s rise may help reduce ethnic polarisation between Afro and Indo-Guyanese – GHRA

Sep 10, 2025
News

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) none of the five election observer missions have concluded that the recent general and regional elections met the standard of being free and fair.

In a statement, the GHRA said the international election observer missions have commended Guyanese and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for conducting the 2025 elections free from violence, fear, and intimidation. However, none of the five Observer Missions—the European Union (EU), the Organization of American States (OAS), the Commonwealth, CARICOM, and the Carter Center—concluded that the elections met the standards of being ‘free’ and ‘fair’.

“All observer missions highlighted the ruling Peoples Progressive Party’s (PPP) abuse of incumbency, citing the use of state media, state-owned property, government vehicles, and personnel to advance the party’s campaign. Despite these advantages, the PPP fell short of securing a two-thirds parliamentary majority, with lower-than-expected voter turnout in its traditional strongholds,” GHRA said.

Meanwhile, the Peoples National Congress (PNC), the PPP’s main rival for over sixty years, experienced significant losses in its strongholds in Regions 4 and 10, as the newly-formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party made unexpected inroads. WIN, GHRA said established some three months before the elections, successfully leveraged community-based electoral campaigns to counter sustained PPP efforts to pressure and penalize its membership.

“Transitioning from an electoral strategy to a Parliamentary party will present a challenge for WIN. Few of its members are household names, and even fewer have prior legislative experience. Nevertheless, the party enters Parliament with broad support from economically-marginalised communities,” the association noted.

Early indications suggest the PPP may attempt to put WIN on the defensive, focusing on allegations against WIN leader Azruddin Mohamed, who has been sanctioned by the United States for alleged involvement in gold smuggling. These sanctions also implicated Mohamed’s father and Mae Thomas, a public servant, for allegedly misusing official positions to benefit the Mohameds.

According to the GHRA. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s disappointment over the PNC’s decline as the main opposition party was evident. “Beyond policy positions, WIN’s rise may help reduce decades-long ethnic polarization between Afro- and Indo-Guyanese communities, an unexpected but welcome development.”

“While Election Day passed without major incidents, concerns about GECOM’s structural and professional capacity were reinforced. The Commission’s dependence on nominations from the two major parties limits its independence, making it unable to make decisions that could threaten the interests of those parties. The GHRA and other civic bodies have constantly called for implementation of electoral reforms agreed unanimously in the constitutional reform process of year 2000. While agreed to by both major parties, no major changes have been implemented,” the GHRA said. The association said even declaring the 10 Regions as constituencies, a supposedly one-off transitory arrangement for the 2001 Elections has never been converted into single seats. “Without sustained advocacy, these and other reforms, elections in Guyana will remain vulnerable to the abuse of State resources and the influence of money.”

Afro-Guyanese, election observer missions, GHRA, Guyana Human Rights Association, Indo-Guyanese