“We have moved on” – Nigel Hughes on coalition talks as PNC says door still open

Despite the People’s National Congress Reform-A Partnership for National Unity (PNCR-APNU) already taking steps towards contesting the upcoming General and Regional Elections independently, its Leader Aubrey Norton says the door is always open for continued talks with the Alliance For Change (AFC) whose Leader Nigel Hughes has definitely shut down that prospect.

“I think the prospects of anything positive coming out of further engagements, the prospects are marginal. We have moved on and we’re heading straight to elections as I’m sure APNU is,” Hughes told the Guyana Times during a press conference on Friday.
Earlier on Friday at the PNCR’s weekly press briefing, Norton indicated that APNU is willing to continue engaging the AFC despite the minority party making some impossible claims.
“We have been negotiating for months with some impossible suggestions like we should take 35 per cent and the AFC should get 65 per cent… [But] we leave the door open. I’ve been around politics long enough to know in a few minutes or seconds, there could be changes to the political dynamics,” the APNU Chairman posited.

Over the past few weeks, negotiations between the two former coalition partners had become tenuous before finally collapsing earlier this week. The APNU and AFC had coalesced to contest the 2015 elections, which they won but failed to secure a second term at the 2020 polls.
Efforts have been ongoing in the last few months to revive the coalition ahead of the upcoming elections on September 1, however, these talks have not yielded any progress towards an alliance.
Initially, there was a proposal for a 35-65 governance sharing ratio, that is, 35 per cent for AFC and 65 for APNU.
Last month, however, the AFC proposed a ratio of 65-35 – 65 per cent for itself – to be applied across the board, which was rejected by APNU. The Norton-led party had then countered with a 70-30 proposal.
But in what is being described as a last-ditch effort to salvage the coalition talks, the AFC on Monday submitted a revised proposal to APNU through an intermediary.
This new proposal included a 65-35 ratio to be applied across the board, that is, 65 per cent for APNU and 35 per cent for AFC. It also proposed that AFC selects the Prime Ministerial Candidate while APNU picks the Presidential Candidate. The AFC proposal also included that the Representative of the List be an independent nominee acceptable to both parties, and for the Speaker of the National Assembly to be nominated by the AFC but acceptable to APNU.
“We were informed on Tuesday 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,” the party said in a statement on Wednesday night.
According to the AFC, “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.”
The AFC’s position came after news broke that its Member of Parliament (MP), Juretha Fernandes being named as APNU Prime Ministerial Candidate for the upcoming elections – a move that blindsided the AFC. The party has since cancelled the membership of Fernandes along with two other MPs, Sherod Duncan and Deonarine (Ricky) Ramsaroop – all former AFC Executives who have now aligned themselves with APNU and committed to being on that party’s Lists of Candidates.
However, the AFC has been criticised by members of the PNCR-APNU grouping for going berserk during the negotiations.
Sherwood Lowe, who is an advisor to the PNCR-APNU, believes that the AFC should have stayed with its initial proposal several months ago for a governance sharing of 35-65 with APNU, as well as for APNU to name the Representative of the List (ROL), among other positions.
“Had the AFC stuck close to its very first proposal… instead of abruptly going berserk (sorry) during the talks (by, for example, asking for a 60 per cent stake in the coalition and changing its mind on who should name the ROL), an accord could have been signed months ago,” the PNCR Executive stated.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has since opined that the two sides will eventually come together to form a coalition out of desperation for a win at the upcoming elections.