Chances of coalition “marginal at best” – AFC leader admits as APNU rejects new proposal of 35/65 split

On the heels of a number of Alliance for Change (AFC) Members of Parliament defecting to A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), AFC Leader Nigel Hughes has admitted that a coalition between the two parties is looking increasingly unlikely, describing the chances of this as “marginal at best”.
The AFC had reportedly scaled down its proposed seat allocation from an initial 65 per cent to 35 per cent, a proposal that APNU has yet to approve. In an exclusive interview with this publication, Hughes acknowledged the ongoing stalemate in talks but reaffirmed that the AFC continues to operate as an independent party.
“I think effectively, any prospects of movement in a positive direction are marginal at best… [but] the AFC is an independent party and had indicated that we were running as an independent party when elections were held… and before that,” Hughes said.

On Wednesday, news had emerged that three AFC Members of Parliament (MPs), Juretha Fernandes, Sherod Duncan and Ricky Ramsaroop, would be joining the APNU list of candidates for the upcoming election. According to the AFC leader, he had not received any resignation letters from the trio as of Wednesday afternoon.
“I haven’t seen a resignation. I’m hoping that I will receive one. And I have also seen the press reports in relation to Mr Duncan and Ricky, but I hope we will receive their resignations. I wish them the very, very best in their new endeavours.” Hughes said.
Further, Hughes noted that he was completely unaware of Fernandes being tipped to be Norton’s running mate until he read the press reports.
Asked about the prospects of AFC entering into coalition talks with Forward Guyana, the new political party founded by former APNU MP Amanza Walton-Desir after her own shock resignation from that party, Hughes had this to say.
“We have talks with everybody. We have talks with all the willing, who share our vision for development,” Hughes said.

Cancelled membership
Meanwhile, in a subsequent statement issued by the party, the AFC noted that it had reached out to the defecting trio, seeking answers on their status with the party. While they did not respond, AFC noted that they were able to verify that all three had officially subscribed to APNU membership, and as a consequence, they have been booted from the AFC party.
“The Alliance for Change, guided by its constitution and principles, considers that the three have chosen to forfeit their membership of the Party and has therefore formally cancelled their membership,” the AFC said, going on to wish them well in their future endeavours.

APNU rejects
On the matter of coalescing with APNU, the smaller party pointed out what their draft coalition agreement that they submitted to APNU looked like. Their proposal included a 35/65 split, with the lion’s share going to APNU, as well as APNU being allowed to nominate the presidential candidate and AFC being given leeway to nominate the prime ministerial candidate.
Additionally, it was proposed that the representative of the list would be an independent nominee acceptable to both sides, while AFC would nominate a speaker who was acceptable to APNU. According to AFC, their proposal was rejected.

“We were informed that this proposal was rejected. On this occasion, APNU decided that they must also name the AFC’s PM candidate, contrary to the established protocol of the negotiations. This demand is totally unacceptable to the AFC.” AFC said.
“This last proposal gave APNU all they have been asking for to agree to a coalition, and the AFC decided at all costs it would play its role in response to public feedback and the nation’s desire for a unified opposition. It is now clear the APNU was and is not interested in a coalition.”
As the country readies for the September 1, 2025 elections, talks between the APNU and AFC about a possible coalition have started and then broken down on various occasions over the past few months.
In January, the two sides had set March 31 as the deadline for negotiations on a partnership. However, the deadline passed and disagreements persisted. In a previous speech to his party members, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton had declared that his party carries “the burden of the work”, and he will always put his party members first.
However, following one of the AFC’s announcements on the breakdown of the negotiations, the PNCR/APNU had issued a statement noting that they would be open to discussions if the AFC indicates they want to resume talks.
There had been discussions in the public domain over who would be the presidential candidate if AFC were to reunite with its old coalition partner; Norton was designated as the People’s National Congress (PNC) presidential candidate last year.

Following his election as leader, Norton had said that PNC was considering contesting the 2025 General and Regional Elections independently. And while he had indicated that he would be willing to step aside as the party’s presidential candidate, he had made it clear that any new presidential candidate must be someone from within the PNC.
It was announced earlier this year that Hughes had been designated as the presidential candidate of the AFC after the party concluded the first meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) for the year.
APNU, whose largest member is the PNC, had merged with the AFC in 2015 for the elections that year. The two parties had also jointly contested in the 2020 elections. However, AFC formally broke its coalition with APNU back in December 2022.
The revised Cummingsburg Accord, a political agreement between the two organisations, had provided for this separation. At the time, former AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan had indicated that the two political organisations would do their political work separately but work in parliament jointly.