GUYANA does not have legislation or a constitutional arrangement for a coalition after an election result shows no majority winner. In Guyana, parties can coalesce before the election in the hope of toppling any major party that is likely to have a majority. That happened in 2015 when the PNC, WPA and some paper organisations formed APNU and APNU aligned with the AFC under the name of APNU+AFC.

The crucial point to note is whether, before or after an election, a coalition has to sit on a platform of reality that no one in the entire world can change. That reality is that the different entities forging a covenant must have something to win votes that the others do not have. It is for this single reason that coalitions are born.

We can dispense with examples all over the globe by looking at one country, Italy. You have a party based in the south of the country, and it caters for the needs of Southern Italy. In the north, people do not gravitate to Southern political parties because they have their own in the north. To form a government, the North teamed up with the South. Common sense should tell you that they each brought something to the table that the others couldn’t.

We are heading for a crescendo of lamentations over the lack of a covenant between the PNC and AFC for the 2025 poll. People from the PNC and AFC are mourning each day on their Facebook page that the PNC and AFC must stop bickering and become a team so they can defeat the PPP. Now, bear in mind as we go along, all PNC leaders and all AFC bigwigs have agreed that such a combination will defeat the PPP, so let the merger take place.

Now, bear in mind too, as we go along, the opening paragraphs of mine: you have to bring something to the table. So, let’s quote one of the mourners who is begging for a PNC/AFC alliance – Rickford Burke.  I quote him: “The AFC’s support among the electorate is infinitesimal. The AFC brings very little to the table politically, so who in their right senses will give such a hollow party the kind of percentage and influence in the Cabinet and Parliament which they are demanding?”

I hope now that I have quoted someone very close to Aubrey Norton and Nigel Hughes, you, as the reader, have to ask the question: given Burke’s description of the AFC, what does the AFC bring to the table? We now will enter the realm of magic, but before we do that, let’s quote Burke again, this time on the nature and power of the PNC: “The PNC has mass support among the electorate and a national organisation that can meaningfully undergirth a national election campaign structure.”

Where is the magic land we are about to enter? It lies in the AFC. Burke is telling us that the AFC has almost zero percent in the electorate and (remember my opening paragraphs) and brings very little to the table. If this almost non-existent party teams up with the PNC, then bingo, the election is won! Is this magic or comicality?

In the scenario painted above, the political analyst is dying to see the election mathematics. It takes 33 seats to win. How much do the mourners think the AFC will bring to that 33?  Surely, as politicians, the mourners have to explain this configuration to their supporters. It is not a question of the PNC winning on its own. The mourners have admitted that it cannot happen. Read Juretha Fernandes, Amanza Walton-Desir, Rickford Burke and similar mourners. They are pellucid – to defeat the PPP, the PNC and AFC have to team up, and it has to be now.

So, Guyana needs to know in the configuration, how many seats this hollow (Burke’s word) party, the AFC, will bring. I am contending for all the big mouths, for all the flair they give their words, there isn’t one person in the PNC and AFC that can sit in a talk show and answer three questions from the interviewer.

One – why, without the AFC, the PNC cannot pull it off on its own? Two – if the AFC is essential to the victory, describe the qualities it will bring to the campaign. 3 – How many seats is the presence of the AFC is likely to pull? The mourners, by openly declaring the AFC is vital for victory, has now given the AFC a tactical advantage in the weeks to come should the talks continue between PNC and AFC.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.