Irfaan Ali

Irfaan Ali was the presidential candidate of the People's Progressive Party (PPP/C) for the 2 March 2020 general and regional elections in Guyana.[8]

He was selected as the presidential candidate for the People's Progressive Party/Civic on 19 January 2019.[9] His selection came at a time after Ali had been charged with 19 counts of conspiracy and fraud by Guyana's Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU).[10] Ali's lawyers questioned the legality of these charges, and claimed that they were political in nature and "trumped up".[11] At the time when Ali was running for president, the charges had never been brought to a full Court hearing.

Immediately following his selection, Ali was accused of academic fraud, with opponents claiming that when Ali was in his early 20s, he had mis-represented one of his qualifications.[12] Ali was also indicted on 19 charges of other fraud for allegedly defrauding the State of over $174M between the period 2011 and 2015, allegedly conspiring with persons unknown to "greatly undersell" 19 plots of state lands at Plantation Sparendaam and Goedverwagting in East Coast Demerara to current or former government officials. The trial on the matters was postponed several times. He was granted self bail on the charges. The lands, which were sold for $39.8M, are valued at $212.4M, according to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU).[13] On 14 August, the charges were dismissed.[14]

In the campaign for the Presidency, Ali ran on a mainly economic platform, citing declining growth and increased joblessness under the Granger Administration.[15] Ali committed to creating 50,000 new jobs over five years.[16] He emphasized the need for transparency and adherence to globally-recognised standards of governance for Guyana's nascent oil sector, which is expected to transform Guyana's development. Ali committed to establishing a Sovereign Wealth Fund protected against political interference, and to strengthen Guyana's ability to uphold the Santiago Principles and the global requirements of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Ali with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in September 2020

In September 2020, in a joint statement with the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Ali said the two countries would begin joint maritime patrols aimed at drug interdiction near Guyana's disputed border with crisis-stricken Venezuela.[17] The agreement came as U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp, as part of a consortium with Hess Corp, ramped up crude output from Guyana's massive offshore Stabroek block, a large portion of which is in waters claimed by Venezuela.[17] Pompeo and Ali added that "greater security, greater capacity to understand your border space, what's happening inside your Exclusive Economic Zone - those are all things that give Guyana sovereignty."[18]