After historic election loss: Terrence Campbell tipped to replace PNC’s Aubrey Norton in Parliament

Businessman Terrence Campbell is set to lead the Parliamentary team of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) when the 13th Parliament convenes, following the party’s dismal showing at the September 1, 2025, General and Regional Elections.
APNU executive and Chief Whip of the Party, Christopher Jones, confirmed that Norton will not return to the National Assembly but declined to comment on the issue of Campbell replacing the former Opposition Leader.
“Mr Norton has not resigned as the leader of the PNC. He just indicated that he will not be amongst the list of MPs going into this Parliament,” Jones explained to this publication. He noted that the full slate of APNU Parliamentarians will be revealed at the party’s weekly press conference today.
The September 1 elections dealt APNU its worst defeat in decades, slashing its Parliamentary strength from 22 seats in the last assembly to just 12 in the 13th Parliament. In 2020, when APNU held 22 seats and its coalition partner AFC held nine, the two combined forces formed the main Parliamentary opposition.
Guyana Times understands that Working Peoples Alliance (WPA) Dr David Hinds, who has been publicly criticised for race-baiting, will also be joining APNU’s parliamentary team. Juretha Fernandes, Christopher Jones, Dexter Todd, Nima Flue-Bess, Ganesh Naipaul, Sherwood Duncan and Sharma Solomon are also expected in Parliament.

In February, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had called out Campbell, who is the local franchise holder of Church’s Chicken, accusing him of engaging in “duplicitous” behaviour and defending his political allies while attempting to undermine the Government.
Campbell, who had been vocal in his criticisms of the Government, particularly concerning the management of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF), had been at the centre of a controversy where he was given over a $100 million tax write-off by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Campbell’s tax information was leaked to the media, exposing a tax waiver granted to him by GRA to the tune of $138,835,578.
According to the leaked document, Campbell wrote a letter of request to GRA on September 11, 2020, asking for a waiver of penalty/interest allegedly “accrued on the late submission of returns and late payments of principal taxes, respectively.”
Providing further insights on the matter, Jagdeo had alleged that “this took place on September 25, 2020. So, what this says to me is that under the APNU (A Partnership for National Unity) period he was allowed not to pay these (taxes), and as soon as we got into office in August of 2020, he realised then that this situation could not continue, and so he hurriedly got this big write-off in the penalties.”

Other Opposition parties
The role of the main Opposition has now shifted to the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, which secured 16 seats. WIN’s leader, businessman Azruddin Mohamed, currently under United States (US) sanctions, has announced that he will take up the post of Opposition Leader.
Meanwhile, former APNU Parliamentarian Amanza Walton-Desir, who broke away to form the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), has claimed a single seat in the House.
The governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) swept the polls with a commanding 242,498 votes, earning 36 seats and retaining control of the National Assembly.
As the political landscape reshapes, all eyes will be on Campbell’s debut in Parliament, with questions lingering over how the weakened APNU will reposition itself in the face of a stronger ruling party and a newly empowered opposition force in WIN.
Prior to the proceedings of the 2025 polls, Walton-Desir resigned as an APNU Parliamentarian, citing a culture of disrespect within the party. Walton-Desir had joined a long list of APNU members who resigned over a range of issues with the Aubrey Norton-led party.
In addition to her, MPs Jermaine Figueira and Geeta Chandan-Edmond tendered their resignations. Figueira was an executive member of the PNC, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), shadow minister of culture, youth and sport, and the PNC’s chairman of Region Ten – one of the party’s strongholds.
Following his resignation, Figueira released a statement to the media explaining his reasons for leaving the party, citing issues such as the PNC’s lack of visionary leadership and its embrace of ethnic antagonism.
Chandon-Edmond announced her endorsement of President Dr Irfaan Ali in the National Assembly, citing issues within the APNU, such as its unpatriotic stance on the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy and its condoning of vile and racist remarks against her by party allies.
Natasha Singh-Lewis, another PNC/APNU Parliamentarian, recently resigned from the party. Regional Chairman and Vice Chairman of Region Four sDaniel Seeram and Samuel Sandy – both PNC/APNU members – have since resigned and are now supporting President Ali and the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) for a second term in office.
Some other persons who have resigned from the PNC are Dr Richard Van-West Charles, Thandi McAllister, and James Bond.