By: Staff Writer
September 5, 2025
Guyana held their general elections on September 1 with reports now claiming that incumbent president Dr Irfaan Ali has won reelection.
Ali’s People’s Progressive Party (PPP) secured at least 242,000 votes in the poll up to the latest reports, claiming majorities in eight of the 10 districts according to Reuters news agency.
We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), a new political party founded just three months ago, came in second with around 109,000 votes.
Ali, 45, campaigned on a pledge to use the country’s vast oil reserves, discovered in 2019, to improve infrastructure and reduce poverty, while navigating territorial tensions with neighbour Venezuela.
The election, held amid rising tension with their neighbour on the South American continent, Venezuela, and reports of gunshots being fired at Guyanese poll over the disputed Essequibo River division and Guyana’s first general election with a booming oil economy that is leading the country to great prosperity, has been relatively smooth despite some observer organisations calling for reform to the electoral process.
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) in Guyana presented its preliminary findings on the 1 September General and Regional elections. Critical stages of the electoral process, including the tabulation of results, are still ongoing and expected to be made official by next week due to the amount of returning stations still sending in vote tallies.
The EU EOM said the polls were peaceful and efficiently managed, with polling stations opening on time and voters participating in an orderly manner. “Voters cast their votes in a calm and peaceful manner. Our observers were present in towns and villages where they saw a dedicated polling staff, predominantly women, efficiently facilitating voting. With the tabulation not yet finalised, we expect standards of transparency will continue to be followed until the final results,” said Chief Observer Robert Biedroń, Member of the European Parliament.
A Commonwealth Secretariate team, tasked with observing Guyana’s September 1 general and regional elections, has urged Guyana to implement crucial recommendations aimed at enhancing the credibility and transparency of future elections.
An interim statement from the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) commended the peaceful environment before and during polling. It noted that election-related procedures were largely respected, as were calls for peace and national unity made by the President, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and leaders of other political parties, in the days leading up to the election.
Meanwhile, Dr Ali is in celebration mode as he waits for the official results to be made public once all of the votes are finally counted.
“The numbers are clear… We have a great majority and we are ready to take the country forward,” the 45-year-old told a news agency by telephone.