Guyana Sets Election Date; Territorial Dispute With Venezuela Top of Agenda

Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali on May 25 announced the date for the next elections and said he would defend his country’s territory amid the dispute with Caracas, Venezuela, over the Essequibo region.

“This evening, I announced General and Regional Elections in Guyana will be held on September 1, 2025,” the Guyanese president wrote on the social media platform X.

The country’s government, which has a semi-presidential system, holds elections every five years. In the next election, the president of the Republic, the 65 members of the National Assembly, as well as members of regional and municipal councils, will be elected by Guyanese citizens.

Ali made the announcement during a flag-raising ceremony commemorating the 59th anniversary of Guyana’s independence from Great Britain.

On the same day, national, regional, and governors’ elections were held in Venezuela, including one for the Essequibo region, an area of about 61,800 square miles in western Guyana that has been in dispute by Caracas and Georgetown since the 19th century.

The Venezuelan elections, in which the Caracas leadership named Neil Villamizar as leader of the disputed region, were criticized by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs as the “latest sham election” organized by the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

On May 24, the day before the Venezuelan elections, the Guyanese president said the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) was ready to defend its territory against any hostile act, according to local media outlet News Room.

“Those that seek to threaten us, that become ambitious—they must know that our troops on the frontline are ready in the defense of every square inch of our country,” Ali said at a breakfast with members of the GDF. “We will ensure we do everything so that the peaceful nature of our country, every sphere of our country, remains the order of the day.”

Ali, 45, who won the country’s elections in March 2020, is expected to run for reelection with his People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). The PPP/C in the current administration has a majority in the National Assembly with 33 of 65 seats in the unicameral parliament.

In late March, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to the South American country and showed his support for Guyana in the territorial dispute over the Essequibo region.

“In my meeting with [Ali], we strengthened the economic and security ties between our two nations,” the secretary wrote on March 27 on X. “The United States stands with Guyana in support of its territorial integrity against the Maduro regime.”