Following a challenging five-month electoral process in 2020, the Government of Guyana (GoG) signaled its intent to ensure electoral reform was undertaken before any other elections were held. The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance for Change (AFC) coalition also publicly stated its interest in reforms to various electoral processes and civil society organizations (CSOs) called for a citizen’s centered approach to strengthening elections. In April 2021, the International Republican Institute (IRI) received funding from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs (DRL) to provide the people of Guyana and their leaders with technical assistance to advance their own priorities on electoral reform.

From April 2021 to November 2022, IRI facilitated broad stakeholder consultations to foster greater inclusion of Guyanese in its electoral reform-focused program. The Program Advisory Committee (PAC) was convened during this process and 13 leaders from the government, parliamentary opposition, and civil society engaged in discussions on strengthening elections. Discussions focused on the following areas of the electoral cycle: the legal framework, planning and implementation, training and education, voter registration, voting operations, and election day and results transmission and tabulation. The following report summarizes discussions on these various areas.