AS Guyana’s decisive 2025 general and regional elections loom, opposition parties A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) are mired in a cycle of indecision and infighting that sap their credibility and viability.
Two months of negotiations and a March 31 deadline to finalise a coalition agreement have not broken the impasse, with the two sides stuck over leadership and the sharing of power.
This political stalemate reflects deeper issues of distrust and disunity that have plagued the opposition since their coalition dissolved after their loss in the 2020 elections.
The most contentious issue is the selection of a presidential candidate. APNU leader Aubrey Norton insists on leading the coalition, citing the dominant role of his party in the opposition block.
While AFC party leader Nigel Hughes has firmly positioned himself as the supreme candidate in his party, urging a 60-40 power-sharing balance in the favour of APNU, but at the same time demanding that the presidential candidate’s party give up the Leader of the List position—a crucial parliamentary decision-making role—such mutually exclusive requirements have led to a standoff which neither appears willing to resolve.
This leadership stalemate highlights a dispiriting lack of strategic vision between both factions. Norton’s adamant refusal to concede ground indicates a deep-seated arrogance that repels potential allies, and Hughes’ insistence on leading while his capacity to appeal across broad lines has been challenged, continues to divide the opposition further along unity fault lines.
Even overtures toward a consensus candidate have failed, indicating a lack of trust that rules out any chance of co-operation.
The parties’ relentless public declarations of distrust for each other serve only to exacerbate this division, so that their talks are increasingly less in the nature of talks and more akin to performative drama.
The broader implications of this indecisiveness are dire. Guyanese citizens are witnessing an opposition that is unable to present a united face or to articulate a clear vision of governance.
This disorder erodes popular confidence and encourages notions that the opposition is not strong enough to challenge the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in any way.
Critically, even, APNU+AFC has been called “the worst opposition in history” by its critics who refer to its infighting and failure to represent its constituents.
By prioritising internal struggle for power over national interest, the opposition risks becoming irrelevant at a time when Guyana needs healthy checks and balances.
If the path remains the same, they will not only lose the elections but also forfeit any remaining trust of the people—a self-inflicted wound that may prove to be irreversible.