FOLLOWING a crushing defeat at the polls and being stripped of its opposition status, Aubrey Norton, although remaining leader of the A Partnership of National Unity (APNU) will not be returning to parliament.

APNU’s lead Member of Parliament (MP) will be businessman Terrence Campbell, reliable sources have told this publication.

Campbell 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.

Further, the party finalised its list of parliamentarians on Thursday and a number of APNU MPs will be returning.

APNU took a hit at the September 1 General and Regional Elections as the party only secured 12 seats in parliament, losing its position as the main opposition.

Meanwhile, newcomer, embattled businessman Azruddin Mohamed’s political outfit, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) 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.