CONFRONTING the stark reality that faces the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) after its crushing defeat at the polls, is former Opposition leader Aubrey Norton, who will not be seeking presidency again and is currently conducting an internal review into the party’s performance.

Norton, on Friday, hosted the APNU’s first press conference following the party being booted from the main opposition seat and losing some of its traditional strongholds to political newcomer, embattled businessman’s political outfit, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN).

Norton, who disclosed that he has stepped aside for businessman Terrence Campbell to be the party’s leader, Parliamentarian said, “We will be having a review. We have started a review. All the candidates met. They got another review session this afternoon (Friday) with a smaller group. We will review it and we will develop our strategies and tactics.”

Although the APNU Chairman stated that the process is urgent, said that no timeline has been placed on the review and it is not a guarantee that the process will be made public.

Norton was the Presidential Candidate for the APNU coalition in the 2025 General and Regional Elections. He also served as Opposition Leader in the last Parliament.

Further, Norton sought to compare the party’s performance this year to previous elections, such as the 1961 elections and 2006, where he stated that the People’s National Congress-Reform (PNC-R), the major component of the APNU, lost seats to newcomers, as they saw this year, to the WIN party.

APNU’s lead Member of Parliament (MP) will be businessman Campbell, who is a former member of the A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and is the person who once threatened to “break the hands” of the APNU leader during coalition negotiations.
Just last year, Campbell publicly lambasted Norton’s leadership and declared the opposition coalition process “untenable.”

Campbell had served as an interlocutor between the Alliance For Change (AFC) and APNU during talks to revive the coalition.
Eventually the coalition talks fell through even with the AFC offering to settle for just 35 per cent of political representation. Now, he’s officially part of the team he once doubted.

Norton, while explaining that he will not be the party’s future presidential candidate said: “I hope that is an indication that I have no intention of running for the presidency in the future, and so I see the task at this as repairing the party for the future.”

He said that he is making way for “fresh blood.”

The WIN party is set to become the main opposition. It will have 16 seats to fill based on the official results released by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

Based on the results, the WIN party flipped APNU’s strongholds, including Region 10 (Upper-Demerara-Berbice).
In the last parliament, the APNU and AFC held 31 seats in the National Assembly, forming the main parliamentary opposition, with 22 of those seats being held by APNU members.

Meanwhile, former APNU parliamentarian Amanza Walton-Desir’s party, Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), picked up one seat.
Six political parties contested the polls this year, but the PPP/C’s strong showing across the ten administrative regions has solidified its mandate to govern for an additional five years.

Based on the results, the PPP/C will be returning to office with a substantial parliamentary majority having secured 36 of the 65 seats.