THE prime movers behind plans for an opposition electoral alliance are sharply divided over how to proceed, triggering deep confusion among supporters of the several parties.

The small Alliance For Change (AFC) party last weekend scuttled highly-touted plans for partnering with the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), but AFC Leader, Mr. Raphael Trotman, has gone public with his hopes of a PNCR-AFC partnership with others for next year’s general elections.

The PNCR, in a statement Friday, flatly said that the AFC’s decision is “shortsighted,” and reported that some of its supporters are wondering if they can trust the AFC.

According to the PNCR, the issue of trusting the AFC came up at a recent meeting of its chapter in Washington, DC, during a visit there by party Vice-Chairman, Mr. Basil Williams and Central Executive Committee member, Ms. Florence Bourne.

It said “concerns about the trustworthiness of the AFC” were raised and addressed at the meeting.

Political analysts noted that Trotman’s position, as reported in the Kaieteur News newspaper on Friday, is in direct opposition to the decision by majority vote of the AFC’s National Executive Committee against any pre-elections coalition with the PNCR.

“This is stark evidence of the deep confusion these opposition parties find themselves in. Their plans for an alliance are falling apart before even before they began talking seriously,” an observer noted.

“This is a recipe for disaster,” another analyst said, noting that the PNCR and the AFC are the only two parties in the opposition camp with constituencies of note. He said the others in the recently-formed Joint Opposition Political Parties (JOPP) are mainly parties in name only, and would be hard-put to produce genuine membership rolls.

Trotman defected from the PNCR after failing in a bid to wrest the leadership, and formed the AFC.

He has come out against excluding the PNCR from a partnership, but sources said he is in the minority in his party on this matter.
Rival AFC Leader, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, who was expelled from the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), disagrees with Trotman on including the PNCR, the sources said.

The PNCR said it is still committed to working for an alliance for the 2011 elections, adding that the future of Guyana and the wellbeing of its citizens are “too important to be sacrificed at the altar of partisan politics.”

It said any alliance, coalition or partnership must be welded by a common desire to take Guyana forward on an agreed platform that can guarantee justice and development for all the people of Guyana.

The PNCR argued that this cannot be based merely on a desire for political power and to replace the current government or “merely focused on the Presidency.”

It stated, too, that a partnership or alliance cannot be premised on the “selfish promotion of any individual party or group with a desire for expansion at the expense of others.”

Sources said the AFC and the PNCR are separately trying to woo prominent personalities in civic society and other sectors to boost their electoral chances.

The sources said the more powerful section of the AFC leadership is against its being second fiddle in a coalition with the PNCR, which has maintained that it will be the dominant partner in any opposition coalition for the 2011 general elections.

Mr. Peter Ramsaroop, former AFC Chief Executive Officer, last month resigned as a party member, claiming this was because “they do not support a united opposition, which must include the PNC.”

He charged that the earlier stand by AFC Chairman, Ramjattan that he will never work with the PNCR was a slap in the face of the good people of the party.

“The AFC on its own cannot win an election…I will work again with the AFC when we all sit at the table, including the PNC, and determine a way forward along with civil society,” Ramsaroop said.