APNU “absent” from opposition leader election

Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 January 2026, 19:12 by Writer

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was recorded as “absent” from voting for the election of Guyana’s Leader of the Opposition when that party’s 12 members of parliament (MPs) walked out of Monday’s meeting called by Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs said.

“I have them as absent. They weren’t there,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

Mr Isaacs explained that he could not record them as “abstain” but they were not at the meeting for the vote. “They weren’t there. They walked out,” he said.

The Clerk of the National Assembly said at the commencement of the meeting, the APNU MPs were there and recorded as present but “when I called their names, they weren’t in their seats. There were vacant seats.”

APNU’s parliamentary leader Dr Terrence Campbell on Monday objected to a Demerara Waves Online News report that his party boycotted the vote for Azruddin Mohamed who was still elected opposition leader.

He maintained that APNU MPs left the meeting after it was clear that there was only one nominee – Mr Mohamed.

That, however, partly contrasts with what Dr Campbell said on Friday at a press conference when asked whether his colleague legislators would abstain in light of integrity issues facing Mr Mohamed.

On that occasion, he said “It is not in the interest of opposition collaboration for us to take any other stance on the issue.”

Mr Mohamed’s party, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), has 16 of the 29 seats, sufficient to have won on his own.

But both himself and Forward Guyana Movement’s leader Amanza Walton Desir confirmed that she voted for Mr Mohamed.

APNU MP, Dr Dexter Todd said in brief remarks that his party opted not to nominate anyone because WIN would not have supported his party’s nominee and it would only have delayed the process and distracted from balance, accountability, and proper government including the proper functioning of Parliament.

“From early on, APNU understood this reality. Without support from WIN members in Parliament, there was no path for an APNU nominee to become Leader of the Opposition. That support was never there, and it was not likely to be there. Any suggestion otherwise would not have matched the reality on the ground,” he said.

The Speaker of the National Assembly called the constitutionally required meeting of opposition MPs to elect the Leader of the Opposition following calls by major Western Nations for that to be done in order to complete the democratic process stemming from the September 1, 2025 general and regional elections.

However, both Mr Nadir and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) did not hide their positions. They contended separately, but in similar sentiments, that the election of Mr Mohamed would be a “stain” on Guyana because he was indicted by the United States for alleged financial crimes and was sanctioned by that country’s Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for alleged gold smuggling resulting in the evasion of taxes due to the Guyana government.

Mr Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed, are battling a US extradition request.

They return to court on February 5 for continuation of committal proceedings.