Mohamed Irfaan Ali has claimed a second five-year term in office, following general elections in Guyana on September 1, 2025. Photo: Reuters

The European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission has hailed Guyana’s 2025 General and Regional Elections on September 1, 2025, as peaceful and orderly. Photo: Facebook

Noting that he was pleased to announce visa-free access to Guyana nationals to the Virgin Islands back in September 2024, Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) said this step strengthens the bond between the Virgin Islands and the region, facilitating greater ease in travel, trade, tourism and investment. Photo: Facebook

The Elections Commission is still to make the final declaration, but the declared results from the 10 districts have been published.

It means Mohamed Irfaan Ali has claimed a second five-year term in office. Ali's People's Progressive Party (PPP) secured at least 242,000 votes in the poll, claiming majorities in eight of the 10 districts in the South American country, 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, capturing the other two districts.

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was left out in the cold with no pathway to victory and losing its previous strongholds to WIN and the PPP.

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.

VI wants ‘more permanent presence in Guyana’

The Virgin Islands (VI), under Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable Natalio D. Wheatley (R7), has been seeking to foster closer collaboration with Guyana, and a 17-member delegation headed by Junior Minister for Trade and Economic Development Hon Lorna G. Smith, OBE (AL) was dispatched to the South American oil-rich country on a trade mission in mid-2023.

Hon Smith had said the trade mission identified new opportunities for Virgin Islands’ businesses, examined how Guyana is moving towards a low-carbon economy, which will assist the VI in its own journey, established links to benefit the VI economy, and especially its agricultural sector, and reinforced the VI’s relationship with one of the leading and largest members of CARICOM.

“Given these opportunities and the enthusiasm with which we were received, I believe that we will be looking at how best to establish a more permanent presence in Guyana that would be mutually beneficial,” Hon Smith stated during a press conference on August 15, 2023.

The VI expressed its seriousness towards doing business with Guyana by lifting its visa restrictions on Guyana nationals in September 2024.