PNC, AFC tight-lipped on coalition talks

Last Updated on Friday, 3 January 2025, 17:49 by Writer

The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) were Friday cagey about their separate plans for coalescing to contest general elections that are constitutionally due later this year.

PNCR Leader, Aubrey Norton said a meeting was slated to be held later this month, but he declined to say which parties would be participating in those talks. “All the parties will get together and decide what they do. It is not for me to say we’ll do it alone or we’ll do it together. That’s a decision for the political parties involved,” he said. He declined to provide an update on any talks before concrete decisions were taken. “We continue to engage and at the end of the engagement, which will occur before the middle of this month, we will update the press,” he said.

The Leader of the AFC, Nigel Hughes indicated that his party was still engaged in “listening and grounding” and so his party was not yet at that stage. He said decisions on coalescing with the PNCR-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) or proposing Ms Laura George, an Indigenous Amerindian woman, as a coalition prime ministerial candidate, would be left to his party’s executive. “The party has the ultimate say on who is the presidential candidate, who is the prime ministerial candidate and the party’s processes will always be adhered to,” he said. Mr Hughes acknowledged that Ms George is “more than eminently qualified to play a leading role in any government.” He declined to say when those major decisions would be made, suggesting that the elections might not be held this year.

The PNCR and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) have already agreed in principle that there should be a coalition, but the smaller party is on record as stating its reluctance to return to APNU because of the PNCR’s bad treatment and instead would be willing to retain its name distinctly in any alliance.