— as party tries to rebuild from crushing election loss

“MY voice wasn’t heard in APNU [A Partnership for National Unity]. I was there; I was only invited to two meetings before the elections. I wasn’t appreciated. As an Indian Guyanese, I wanted to know if I was unwanted in PNCR/APNU,” said former Georgetown Mayor and PNC/R member Ubraj Narine, reflecting on the party’s devastating defeat in the September 2025 General and Regional Elections.
APNU is a political coalition, primarily led by the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R).
The September 2025 elections were contested by six parties, but parliamentary power was concentrated among four. The 65-seat National Assembly were distributed as follows: People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) – 36, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) – 16, APNU – 12, Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) – one, while the Alliance for Change (AFC) and the Assembly for Liberty and Prosperity (ALP) failed to secure enough votes.
For the first time in modern Guyanese political history, the PNCR-led APNU will not occupy the position of the majority opposition. That role has now shifted to the recently formed WIN party.
APNU, under the leadership of Aubrey Norton, has conceded to suffering a heavy defeat at the recent polls. The decades-old party has pledged to focus on rebuilding and repairing its fractured organisation.
Appearing recently on the Freddie Kissoon Show, Narine emphasised that the party’s reduction to a mere 12 seats came as no surprise to him. He said he was not personally shaken by the outcome, stating that he was not “recovering from nothing.”
“I knew what was coming down because I am a grassroots politician. From listening to the vendors and the people out there, I knew what was coming down,” he said.
He attributed the defeat to the coalition’s lack of grassroots engagement and questioned the identity of the party itself.
“I want to make mention that I believe that there is no APNU. I believe that the PNC is the PNC. Yuh can’t rebrand something. It’s delusional for people to believe that, with a combined coalition that did no grassroots work, you can win an election,” Narine added.
The former mayor also criticised the party’s failure to utilise its members effectively in key communities. “You can’t have people like myself and don’t utilise us in the Indian communities. The dynamics of this country is evolving every day. People will no longer see race. And that is something that is continuing to happen on both sides of the major political parties. The people will gravitate to leadership.”
“You can pay a man money to get his votes but once you’re an outstanding leader, a leader with class, people will gravitate towards you. Money can’t buy that.”
Drawing historical parallels, Narine referenced leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, stressing that authentic leadership cannot be bought.
He was also critical of the internal management of the party. “The nonsense that took place in these elections, nobody undermined anyone. They undermined themselves,” he said, accusing party leaders of “micro-managing” and “undermining” the party’s constitution, the Central Executive Committee, and the General Council.
Despite the heavy loss, Narine remains optimistic about the PNC/R’s potential to rebuild. “The party is an institution, and an institution will build back.”
Narine, who said he will remain a member of the PNC/R, warned that the party needs to stop being delusional, or it risks failing.
Asked whether he believes Norton was the right person to lead APNU into the 2025 polls, Narine said, “I have great respect for Norton; I believe he is a wise guy and so on. But when you have people around you peddling different things in your ears, and you have yes-people who don’t put up challenges to you, you become delusional. You must be able to analyse certain things for yourself.”
Narine said they had all hoped for a younger presidential candidate, pointing to examples such as President Ali, WIN leader and United States-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed, and Amanza Walton-Desir, who resigned from the PNC/R to form her own party, Forward Guyana.
“I believe if we had put a younger individual and molded that person, we would have been in a different place,” he asserted.