APNU against vote abstention for opposition leader, says can hurt collaboration with WIN

Last Updated on Saturday, 24 January 2026, 1:36 by Writer

The 12-seat A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) would not abstain from voting for We Invest in Nationhood’s (WIN) leader, Azruddin Mohamed to become Guyana’s next Leader of the Opposition at next Monday’s election by opposition members of parliament (MPs), APNU parliamentary leader Dr Terrence Campbell said Thursday.

While he said WIN has 16 of the 29 parliamentary seats which would certainly declare Mr Mohamed to be opposition leader, Dr Campbell said his parliamentary representatives would not abstain in light of the WIN leader’s legal troubles with the United States.

“With that one nominee, the person will be a clear leader of the opposition. It is not in the interest of opposition collaboration for us to take any other stance on the issue,” he said when asked by Demerara Waves Online News.

Mr Mohamed and his father were sanctioned by the United States’ Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for the alleged multi-year smuggling of more than 10,000 kilogrammes of gold worth US$50 million on which taxes payable to the Guyana government were allegedly not paid.

Last October, the US opened an 11-count grand jury indictment against Mr Mohamed and father for alleged wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering some of which resulted in tax evasion from the Guyana government.

Dr Campbell said collaboration between APNU and WIN would not be limited to consultations with incoming opposition leader Mohamed on matters such as the appointment of constitutional commissions, agreeing to nominees for the chancellor and chief justice, and being meaningfully consulted on the appointment of a police commissioner.

Asked to justify collaboration with WIN beyond constitutional appointments while separating APNU from WIN whose leader has a number of integrity issues, the APNU parliamentary leader cautioned against merely opposing “just for the opposition’s sake”.

Citing the need to fight poverty, poor water quality, floods and other issues, he said “people need help, people need relief.”

He believed that political parties could work together to address those ills while widening their political bases. “Our goal is to expand our influence because I believe and we believe that the APNU is the only political party capable of delivering on the aspirations of the people of Guyana but we will work with all other parties, all other parties until such time as we are in government to advance the national interest.”

He said the electorate has voted for WIN and given it 16 seats which could not be ignored. “When the people have voted, when it is in the National Assembly with 16 seats and so we don’t have a choice but to cooperate with them in the national interest. This is what the voters and Guyanese citizens expect,” he said.

Earlier this week, APNU’s Ganesh Mahipaul said his party could not afford to waste any more time in trying to get WIN to the table to explore ways of collaboration.

Top representatives of both parties said they were ready to talk, but even with a sharp exchange of words publicly Mr Mahipaul and Dr Campbell said their doors were open.