Employers across Guyana are reminded that they are statutorily obligated to grant employees reasonable time off to vote on election day without loss of pay or penalties.
With General and Regional Elections scheduled to take place on Monday, 1st September 2025, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is cognisant that some individuals may be required to work or be stationed away from their respective polling districts on duty during the conduct of the polls.
In this regard, GECOM wishes to inform all employers of the legal provisions requiring them to grant employees the requisite time off to vote on election day.
Specifically, Section 81 (1) of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA), Cap 1:03, makes it mandatory that:
“Every employer shall permit every elector in his employ, other than any elector on whose behalf another elector has been appointed to vote as a proxy, to be absent from his work on election day for a reasonable time, in addition to the normal midday meal hour, for the purpose of voting at the election; and no employer shall make any deduction from pay or other remuneration of any such elector or impose on him or exact from him any penalty by reason of his absence during such period.”
Accordingly, employees are reminded that it is their constitutional right to vote at the election. It is therefore also their responsibility to engage their respective employers in advance to discuss the requisite time off and obtain the necessary approvals.
Failure by any employer to grant such time off constitutes an election offence. Section 82 of ROPA provides that: “Any employer who directly or indirectly refuses or who by intimidation, undue influence or in any other way interferes with the granting to any elector in his employ of the period for voting prescribed by section 81 shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine of sixty-five thousand dollars ($65,000) and to imprisonment for six (6) months.”
In view of the foregoing, GECOM urges all persons to take note and put the necessary systems in place to ensure that they are able to vote on election day.
