Norton declines to shut door, Primus says two sides “very” close to agreeing

Last Updated on Friday, 28 August 2026, 22:52 by Writer

After more than two days, the main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) were yet to issue a joint statement on closed-door talks to map the way forward to address a number of thorny issues but a top WIN official was optimistic about a breakthrough on Thursday.

WIN General Secretary Odessa Primus said she and her other party parliamentarians, who participated in Monday’s meeting with APNU, were unavailable on Wednesday but she was inclined to believe that they would be able to deal with the statement on Thursday.

She believed that WIN and APNU were “very” close to agreeing to a common text of the statement. “I would hope that we would be able to finalise things tomorrow (Thursday),” she told Demerara Waves Online News.

APNU Chairman Aubrey Norton said Wednesday evening that his side was still awaiting WIN’s response to the latest proposed changes to the document.

He said People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) General Secretary Sherwin Benjamin dispatched the joint statement to Ms Primus “since last (Tuesday) evening.”

“I don’t think we heard back from them,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

Mr Norton, a long-time politician since the 1970s, said APNU had been calling WIN and it was now time for that party to “call us when they are ready.”

He said he would not put a timeframe on calling off an engagement with WIN if APNU did not receive a response.

“I will leave it open” he said but also acknowledged that the issue of representation on the Local Government Commission would not be addressed. “I agree but I don’t believe in closing the door,” he said.

Asked whether there was any progress in closing gaps in the proposed statement since Monday’s meeting, he said “it is very difficult to say.” “I don’t think the differences are fundamental. That’s the most I can say.”

Mr Norton last week publicly chided Mr Mohamed for acting in bad faith by requesting the names of nominees for the Local Government Commission (LGC) but went ahead and submitted the names of two WIN persons and one from the Forward Guyana Movement.

In response, APNU demanded representation on the LGC, as well as seats on several regional and local councils, based on proportional parliamentary representation with its 12 seats.

As the main opposition, WIN then invited APNU to a meeting and added issues of the need to replace the three APNU-aligned commissioners on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), the appointment of WIN election scrutineers and the appointment of a regional chairman and vice chairman of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice).