Adamant in its position that the APNU+AFC prime ministerial (PM) candidate for the upcoming general elections must come from within its ranks, the AFC has written to its coalition partner APNU outlining that it needs clarity on some issues before moving forward with negotiations on a new electoral pact.
“We have written seeking clarification. I wrote to them saying these are key issues; basically that we need to have things clarified,” the AFC’s lead negotiator David Patterson told Stabroek News yesterday.
He did not give details about the contents of the letter nor would he confirm if the letter formally notified APNU that talks had ended.
Last Thursday, AFC Executive Dominic Gaskin announced that negotiations on a new accord had stalled due to APNU’s failure to accept the AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan as the coalition’s PM candidate.
“The AFC finds it unacceptable that the matter of the presidential and prime ministerial candidates has been repeatedly deferred,” he told reporters, adding that the AFC has therefore advised APNU that it cannot proceed with any further discussions until the matter is resolved.
But one day after the AFC’s declaration, lead negotiator for APNU, Volda Lawrence, disputed the claim saying that the AFC had not articulated their position to her side.
“We have no indication from the AFC that these talks have come to an end, they are stalled or any of those issues that I see bandying about in the media,” she said.
“There was some element of surprise,” she observed, adding that for her, while the negotiations have been “very tedious,” the two teams have made tremendous steps towards finalising a new accord.
The PNCR Chair-woman stressed that despite recent reports in the media, the coalition remains strong. She explained that from her point of view, the negotiations have paused only because the AFC’s chief negotiator, Patterson, was out of the country.
“The negotiations are still in place…We will resume our negotiations upon his return. We have been able to provide our leaders a list of core principles which were not rejected. We are at the accord now [and] we have every confidence that this team will be able to complete its work,” Lawrence stressed. Patterson yesterday informed that he was out of the country when the AFC announcement was made and is now seeking clarity on the issue.
He said that when the National Executive Council of the AFC meets on Saturday, the issue of the talks will be an item on the agenda.
Sources close to the negotiations told this newspaper that the AFC is not yielding with regards to the party having the right to name the PM candidate as it was a key aspect of the Cummingsburg Accord signed with the APNU back in 2015.
“I am saying no, we are not moving from that position. That agreement is the PM comes from our side. There was no stipulation of performance at any other election or any of the things we are now hearing…,” the source said.
Asked if the APNU is similarly adamant, what will be the AFC’s next move, the source replied, “We will get there when we get there. We believe that the APNU will do the honourable thing. You have to understand that negotiations are just that; negotiations. You start off on the high end and work to a compromise. The thing is, the PM spot is what makes APNU and AFC.
If you take that away, then what else is there? But we are not going to even go to what ifs, it is the party’s decision. No one person made that decision. We chose our PM through a democratic process…it is what the people want,” the source added.
When Lawrence was asked specifically if and why the APNU has objected to Ramjattan as the PM candidate, she said that as negotiations are ongoing, she is “not allowed to discuss that in public.”
