On 16 November 2011, I said, “Of the major parties, I am left with A Partnership for National Unity, which has adumbrated a position that comes closest to my demands. As I understand it, should APNU win office, it is ‘committed to the establishment of a Government of National Unity, which would have as its priority the …. Constitutional and institutional reforms necessary for the realisation of Shared Governance’, and the party proposes to do this ‘during the first two years of the first term of the Government of National Unity.” (‘Why I support the APNU’ SN: 16/11/2011).
In 2011, Guyana’s plurality and post elections rules prevented APNU from winning government but in its 2015 manifesto, the APNU+AFC coalition made similar commitments and I supported that coalition. The coalition has failed to fulfill this vital commitment that would have constitutionally secured its constituency a place in future governments, most likely made the no-confidence vote that brought it down unnecessary and given Guyana a better chance to flourish. After more than a decade of pleading, recently the Carter Center once again called upon the political elite to quickly make constitutional changes to establish an inclusive system that reforms the ‘winner-take-all’ election system currently in use (SN: 20/02/2020).