Latest update February 24th, 2026 12:34 AM
McDonald confident in postal ballot for GTU elections
-says teachers will have one month to cast vote
Kaieteur News- General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) Coretta said that the union’s upcoming elections will be held using the postal ballot system and she is confident in the process.
McDonald disclosed that this system is enshrined in the constitution of the GTU and teachers will have a one-month period to receive their ballot and cast their votes. “Over the years, GTU has been engaged in that, persons have been going to a polling station and casting their vote, but we’ve employed the use of postal ballots, which is enshrined in our Constitution…So teachers will have a one-month period to receive their ballots, which will be posted to their school. Each teacher will receive his or her individual ballots, and after voting, that teacher is expected to return the ballot to the postal address, address that is provided,” she explained.
General Secretary of the GTU Coretta McDonald.
When the stipulated timeframe is completed, the Elections Officer that was appointed by the General Council of the union, will work along with their team to collect the ballots from the postal box that they would have rented for that period, which will be followed by an official counting at the Guyana Teachers’ Union Hall, where the full commission will be present along with the counting staff, recording staff and the staff who will be opening the ballots.
Throughout the process, there will be monitors who will be posted at the Post Offices where the boxes are being rented, and they will be present when the Elections Officer is opening the locker, to collect the ballots, McDonald explained. The Elections Officer will also return later in the day to ensure that there is no ballot left behind.
“Every ballot is perforated, so it’s very easy to tear them, so you’ll be able to sort out first vice president, second vice president, general secretary, and the list would go on, and that would be for the counting. After the counting would have been completed…The elections officer will prepare his report, and then an official declaration is done,” the General Secretary said.
Further, probing to determine if she was confident in the process, McDonald made it clear that while no process is perfect, this one has been used before and with the security measures of the monitors being in place, there should be no mishaps.
Preliminary lists were sent out to schools across Guyana in hard and soft copies, the majority being the latter, and teachers were able to indicate if they were transferred to another school, so that their ballot can be delivered to the correct institution. If a ballot is not received, the teacher has the option of reaching out to the Elections Officer to report it and have the issue rectified. “So, there may be pitches, there may be attempts to retrieve or collect personal ballots, but it’s not on a large scale. Like I said, each teacher will have the elections officer, and they are readily able to make their complaints as to whether they did not receive their ballots, or if the ballots reached them late,” she explained.
A code of conduct was also circulated, which clearly states that no person should be going around to any teacher’s school to uplift their ballot. There are some cases however where a number of schools would sit together and vote. One person is assigned to collect all ballots and deliver them to the post office in a sealed envelope. This is the only exception.
With the few instances of teachers receiving their ballots late due to location, McDonald expressed absolute confidence in the process. This newspaper reported last week that McDonald is the single nominee for the position of President of the GTU.
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