BREAKING: PNCR/APNU-AFC to contest general elections separately as talks collapse

Last Updated on Thursday, 17 April 2025, 19:07 by Writer

The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) would not be coalescing to contest this year’s general elections as talks between the two sides have collapsed, a top AFC official said Thursday.

AFC Chairman, David Patterson, confirmed that “regrettably, we have, despite the best efforts of our negotiation team, been able to arrive at a mutually beneficial arrangement with APNU.”

Mr Patterson declined to say why the negotiations collapsed. “We know that there’s a lot of work to be done, and we know that time is against us. That is why we’ve made the decision to kick start officially,” he added. 

He did not rule out a coalition before Nomination Day, but at the same time “we will proceed with our campaign as Alliance For Change since time is of the essence.”

That party insisted on someone other than PNCR/APNU Leader Aubrey Norton being the presidential candidate, having the Representative of the List of candidates and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

But when asked whether the AFC was asking for too much, Mr Patterson said “obviously not”.

The AFC Chairman declined to answer specifically now whether his party would be including existing well-known or prominent parliamentarians of the PNCR and APNU in its list of candidates.

Mr Patterson, however, was confident that the People’s Progressive Party Civic would lose the upcoming polls.