–PNCR General Secretary says; maintains resolution adopted at party’s congress stands

THE People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) is standing firm that Party Leader Aubrey Norton will be the presidential candidate at the upcoming general and regional elections.
This was according to the Party’s General Secretary Sherwin Benjamin when asked about ongoing discussions between the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the PNCR. The General Secretary countered the reports that the talks were in gridlock.
Norton has consistently maintained that should he not be presidential candidate, the other person must be approved by him.

To compound these sentiments, the General Secretary told the Guyana Chronicle: “The Leader has spoken,” adding that to the best of his knowledge, the position has not been changed.
At the PNCR’s 22nd Biennial Delegates Congress, a resolution was passed maintaining that Norton shall be the party’s presidential candidate for the next general and regional elections, and only he could decide whether someone else should be the candidate.

Norton has even emphasised, on previous occasions, that the PNCR, 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 tree top”.
Previously, the AFC and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), of which Norton is chairman, had announced that it was in talks regarding rekindling their broken relationship.

However, AFC Leader Nigel Hughes had then said that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was on “life support,” after a report surfaced saying that Norton will be presidential candidate as discussions for a new partnership were underway.
When asked about the “life support” comment made by Hughes, Norton, in a previous press conference, 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.”
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, have been convening talks with the hope of forming a new partnership ahead of the 2025 elections.