–Norton says

DESPITE ramblings within the Alliance For Change’s (AFC) camp, Leader of the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), Aubrey Norton, has maintained that he will be the presidential candidate or he will determine who that candidate will be from within his party.

During a short press conference on Friday, Norton addressed the comments made by Hughes after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the AFC to explore the possibility of rekindling their broken relationship.

Hughes said that the MoU was on “life support,” after a report surfaced saying that Norton will be presidential candidate as discussions for a new partnership are underway.
When asked about the “life support” comment made by Hughes, Norton said: “You always have to leave space for when people comment suddenly. All kinds of thing are going to happen.”
Norton further confirmed that he will be presidential candidate.

He firmly stated: “I have long said that the PNC congress said that I will be the presidential candidate, and if there is going to be any other, as it relates to the PNC, I will be the person to determine.”

This statement by Norton matches a series of declarations from him maintaining 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.

To put it frank, Norton previously stated that the presidential candidacy will not be given to “anybody who just fly off of a tree top.”
Responding directly to the comments made by Hughes and any potential effects it might have on the future between APNU and AFC, he said: “Political parties take their positions. I’m a mature politician,” adding that he has to look at the situation and work towards a coalition to achieve their major objective.

Reeling from a history of widely reported internal conflicts, the APNU+AFC 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.

Commenting on these recent events, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo said that this is a desperate attempt by the AFC to retain relevance and favour among Guyanese, and it is looking to cling to its former coalition partner, PNCR/APNU.

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

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.