THE Alliance For Change (AFC), in a desperate attempt to retain relevance and favour among Guyanese, is looking to cling to its former coalition partner, the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R)/A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

This was according to General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, during his weekly press conference, on Thursday.

The recent clash over leadership, and glaring distrust within the opposition camp made it easy to conclude that both of the parties are on life support.

The APNU+AFC, this week, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the recreation of a coalition, but the talks have seemingly already turned sour, and even AFC Leader, Nigel Hughes has said it is on “life support.”

“The fact of the matter is that these two parties are on life support themselves, especially the AFC and I think this is an attempt to cling on to the PNC to ensure that they maintain some modicum of credibility at the next polls,” Jagdeo said.

This internal conflict playing out in the public domain, is nothing new for both the APNU and AFC, the General Secretary pointed out.

Irregardless, of who their presidential candidate is, based on its track record, the General Secretary said the Opposition will lose this year’s election.

“We don’t care too much who their presidential candidate is because they’re going to lose the elections in any case,” he firmly said.

APNU Chairman and People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) Leader, Aubrey Norton has consistently maintained that should he not be presidential candidate the alternative person must be approved by him.

He had even emphasised that the PNC/R, as the largest party in the coalition, is entitled to the presidential candidacy and would not relinquish this role to a smaller party, and to put it frank, not to “anybody who just fly off of a treetop.”
However, based on this week’s events, Jagdeo said the AFC is attempting to “strong arm” its way and put pressure on Norton to back down from his position.

Adding to this, he highlighted that their MoU mirrors that of the 2015 Cummingsburg Accord, which just like the new agreement, had outlined the terms and framework of their partnership.

However, as widely reported, the APNU+AFC had a bitter fallout owing to the power imbalance and breaches to the Accord.

Commenting on the accord, Jagdeo said: “They never kept any of the provisions of the accord. They spoke about helping people and all sorts of things. They betrayed what they signed so they didn’t want this document to come into the public domain again.”

Despite the AFC’s attempts to rebrand, Jagdeo said Guyanese realise that it is utilising the same old playbook.

Further, responding to Hughes saying that there is new leadership, Jagdeo debunked this and pointed out that the same faces present today were involved in formulation of the previous accord.

He said: “It’s the same old cabal doing the same old thing and hoping they can pull wool over the eyes of the people of this country.”

The possibility of another coalition between the ‘divorced’ APNU and the AFC hangs in the balance, as talks were put on “life support” because of what appears to be a power struggle and distrust among stakeholders.

Reeling from a history of widely reported internal conflicts, the parties which officially parted ways in 2022 after being voted out of office in 2020, recently convened talks with the hope of forming a new partnership ahead of the 2025 elections.

This, however, has already gotten off to a rocky start.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, a news report was published, stating that a senior PNC/R official said that their party leader Norton would be the APNU+AFC presidential candidate, as discussions got underway to form a new partnership.
Just a few hours later, Hughes said: “The AFC’s position tonight is that there have been developments which have caused us to pause,” indicating a high level of uncertainty over whether the APNU+AFC will be retying the knot and the trust deficit will be filled.

However, this did not sit well with Norton as he was quoted in the Stabroek News as saying: “I will be the presidential candidate as determined by the PNC, as the largest political party in the coalition. I find Mr. Hughes’ comments on the presidential candidate unnecessary at this stage… we will continue to engage whoever is engaging with us.”

While there is an attempt by the opposition camp to boost electoral appeal, the public has continued to echo its concerns over whether the uneasy partnership can hold amid unresolved differences.