“Let the AFC go to 2025 elections alone, prove its worth” – Charrandas tells Norton

Former executive member of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Charandas Persaud, in proffering a word of advice to A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), has suggested that that party should refrain from coalescing with the Alliance for Change to contest the 2025 General and Regional Elections of 2025, and instead let the AFC contest alone and prove its worth before any alliance is formed.

APNU and AFC are deadlocked over power-sharing terms, and Persaud is querying what APNU would gain by conceding to the demands of the AFC. In a statement released on Sunday, the AFC has requested a 40-60 power-sharing split with APNU, while reports have indicated that APNU countered with 30-70 ratio. Persaud is arguing that 30 percent is even more than AFC deserves, given its declining electoral influence.
“What can the AFC give you? They want 40 percent, you are suggesting 30 [percent]…even if they agree to the 30, [that is] way more than they could ever dream of getting in Parliament as far as seats are concerned. Why are you doing that?” the former Parliamentarian queried.

Addressing APNU leader Aubrey Norton, Persaud urged the party to let AFC prove its relevance before forming any alliance. Directing his comments at Aubrey Norton, Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), which is the largest faction in APNU, Persaud urged that the APNU let AFC prove its relevance before forming any alliance.
“Let the AFC campaign on their own. let them show what kind of clout they have. If they get any seat in Parliament, then you and the AFC, as Opposition, can become an effective Opposition,” Persaud has said.
Persaud has warned that APNU risks alienating its support base by conceding too much to the AFC. He said, “Do not sell the PNC votes to the AFC. People will not vote for AFC, they will vote for the PNCR…you are going to upset a lot of the young PNC supporters; AFC does not have a lot of young supporters…Let the AFC run by themselves. Allow the party to show if they have any kind of clout, and then be an effective Opposition.”

Persaud, an AFC MP in 2011 and 2015, broke ranks in 2018 by casting the decisive no-confidence vote that toppled the APNU+AFC government.
Persaud has spoken openly about how he became disenchanted with the AFC during his time as a parliamentarian, after the party lost its way over the years and had compromised its integrity.
He maintains the AFC has not changed, predicting it would struggle to win even three seats in 2025, and has
also raised concerns over the role of AFC leader Nigel Hughes in the 2019–2020 election crisis, when the APNU+AFC government delayed both the election and the results.
“The AFC has self-destructed… I’ve said that so many times… they will not even make three seats in Parliament,” Persaud has said.
Persaud is a former Alliance For Change member and a former Parliamentarian under the previous Coalition Administration. He rose to prominence following his “yes vote” on a PPP/C-sponsored no-confidence motion against the APNU/AFC government on the night of December 21, 2018.
He had immediately departed Guyana for Canada on the night the coalition government was toppled, out of fear for his life, after he had received death threats.