David Hinds has announced that there is a partnership talk with the PNC for the 2025 election. Aubrey Norton said that he and Nigel Hughes discussed coalition possibilities while in New York. What are the seat configurations should the AFC, PNC, and AFC have an election covenant?
To answer that question, what must be highlighted are the different reasons the different players have for seeking out an election pact with the PNC. For the WPA, it is to remain alive by having one or two parliamentarians that go under the name of the WPA.
Realistically, WPA is unlikely to get even 200 votes much less 10, 000 for two seats. What WPA is hoping for is that the PNC falls for the bait of symbolism, meaning that the two parties having an election arrangement will symbolize to the electorate that the rapprochement of two African parties coming together for the sake of African unity.

If Aubrey Norton falls into that trap, then he is a fool. Norton needs to look in the direction of David Granger and Joseph Harmon. Both men were not prepared for a WPA/PNC dialogue after power was achieved in 2015 because both men felt that WPA was trying to punch beyond its weight. The PNC after 2015 dealt directly with Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine and not the WPA.

Both Granger and Harmon were not prepared to maximize the presence of the WPA in the coalition government because both men knew that the WPA was virtually non-existent in political society. This explains why when Roopnaraine was removed as Education Minister, the WPA was informed.
This explains why Roopnaraine went back into the Cabinet as Public Service Minister and didn’t inform the WPA. The WPA held a press conference on both the going and coming back of Roopnaraine, but Granger and Harmon were unmoved and ignored the WPA. Granger did agree to meet with the WPA on the going and coming back of Roopnaraine, but the WPA left the meeting empty-handed.

In fact, a curious thing happened at the meeting. Instead of treating it as a PNC/WPA party discussion, a senior non-political employee from the Office of the President was there. Vice President Jagdeo would get a heart attack if he knows who that person was.
In relation to the AFC, Norton is on very thin ice when it comes to an election arrangement with the AFC. Nigel Hughes was completely finished with politics, so why did he seek the leadership of the AFC? Hughes realized that Norton and the PNC have become unelectable. Hughes felt he could displace Norton and the AFC could become an opposition power house in parliament.

Hughes knew that Raphael Trotman took five seats from Corbin in 2006 and he could take more from Norton. Hughes knows that his politics since the 2020 election fiasco will not bring in Indian votes. Hughes has gone so far to attract a known face in the Amerindian community into the AFC’s war room, but there is no similar reaching to any big Indian name.

Hughes since 2020, has visibly and graphically moved from multi-racial politics to Afro-centricity, happy to be seen on the same wavelength with known extremists like Rickforde Burke and David Hinds. Hughes knows that if the AFC is going to get seats, it will come from PNC voters and the Mulatto/Creole class and not Indians. Hughes believes his presence on the campaign trail will damage the PNC’s electoral prospects in deeper ways than what Trotman did in 2006.
Hughes’ throwing his hat in the ring has disoriented Norton. Hughes is a big name in African circles and appears to those circles as more electable than Norton. This means that either Norton goes alone and suffers big electoral losses or seeks a partnership with Hughes. But the negotiations are going to be tempestuous. One nasty area is going to be seat allocation.

Hughes thinks he can better the five seats Trotman got in 2006, so he will not accept less than 10. Norton, on the other hand, will not concede 10 because he feels the AFC on its own will not get 10 in the upcoming 2025 contest.  The reality is that both men are contesting the votes of the same constituency. But Hughes has additional thoughts.

Because of the AFC’s roots in the Mulatto/Creole class and the pitch to the Amerindians, Hughes feels he can get Amerindian ballots and votes from the mixed race grouping that Norton cannot get. So the dialogue is going to be a study in unlimited concentration. But one thing is definite – Norton will not concede a consensus candidate. Hakeem Jeffries and two other influential Black American politicians are putting heavy pressure on Norton to concede to Hughes. That is why both men were in New York recently.