Sawt Falasteen - Guyanese President Irfaan Ali claims reelection

"The numbers are clear... We have a great majority and we are ready to take the country forward," the 45-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Official results of Monday's vote have not yet been published.

Ali faces the uphill challenge of reconstructing a country with the highest proven crude oil reserves per capita in the world but one of the highest poverty levels in Latin America.

According to a 2024 report by the Inter-American Development Bank, 58 percent of Guyanese lived in poverty despite an oil boom that has quadrupled the state budget to $6.7 billion since production began in 2019.

Guyana, with its breakneck pace of economic growth at 43.6 percent in 2024 -- the highest in Latin America -- aims to boost oil output from 650,000 barrels per day to over a million by 2030.

Ali had promised on the campaign trail to "put more money in your pocket."

Much of the crude reserves are in the Essequibo region that makes up two-thirds of Guyana's territory but is also claimed by once-rich petrostate Venezuela.

A territorial dispute between the neighbors has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits in Essequibo a decade ago.

The region has been administered by Guyana for over 100 years.

On election day, Venezuela accused its neighbor of "trying to create a war front" after Guyana claimed its neighbor had shot at a boat transporting election materials in Essequibo.

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST