Norton admits supporters readily abandon PNCR for new options

– hints Walton-Desir secured Parliamentary seat through “sympathy votes”

Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Aubrey Norton on Friday acknowledged that the party has an issue with holding on to voters when newer options are available to the electorate.
This year, the PNCR, which ran as the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition, took massive losses against newcomer We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), led by United States (US)-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed. WIN walked away with 109,066, while the APNU garnered just 77,998 votes in the General Elections.
“We have to review how we operate with new parties… to understand the phenomenon of why when new parties emerge, our support base seems to go in another direction – because it is not the first time, it is not the second time, it is the third time it has happened,” Norton pointed out.
“In the 1957 elections we did well, and then in the 1961 elections, in which the United Force emerged as a new party, we lost seats to them. In 2006 the AFC came as a new party, and we lost to them again. In 2025 WIN came as a new party, and we lost seats to them… It is probably signalling that our support base might be more welcoming of new persons, and we have to analyse it and get to the bottom of it and then develop our strategies and tactics,” he noted.

Following this year’s General and Regional Elections, APNU was left with just 12 seats in Guyana’s 65-seat National Assembly. The votes garnered by the party marked a steep decline of over 139,000 votes when measured against the 217,920 votes the party got in 2020 when it coalesced with the Alliance for Change (AFC) and earned 31 seats in the 12th Parliament.
In the 13th Parliament, WIN has earned 16 seats, while a generous 36 seats were earned by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), which won 242,498 votes at the elections to retain a second term in office.
Among the smaller parties, former PNCR Executive Amanza Walton-Desir was able to outperform even the long-running AFC, which did not earn a seat in Parliament after only managing to garner 3610 votes in the General Election.
At Friday’s press conference, Norton hinted at Walton-Desir having possibly earned her seat in Parliament through “sympathy votes”, even as he acknowledged that the party has a historical pattern of being unable to hold on to its support base whenever new parties emerge.
Norton made the comment as he spoke with media at the party’s first press conference since its dismal performance at the September 1 General and Regional Elections (GRE).
Norton was questioned on whether the party regretted having lost Walton-Desir as a candidate, given her notable performance at the polls.
“In elections, people get sympathy votes all the time, so why speculate on it? What we need to do is move forward,” Norton replied.
After resigning from the PNCR in June and starting her own party – the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) – to contest the September 1 polls, Walton-Desir was able to amass 4326 votes across the country, just enough to gain one seat under the Hare Quota system that Guyana utilises.