Leader of the Opposition Aubrey Norton has confirmed that his party remains in talks with the Working People’s Alliance for a coalition in the upcoming general elections, while the Alliance For Change (FC will contest on its own.
Guyana’s next general and regional elections are due in 2025 and Norton, when questioned during his weekly press conference on Tuesday about the possibility of a coalition with the two parties, stated that they have been in talks with the WPA to go to the polls together.
However, he said the last position with the AFC was “we will continue to operate as a parliamentary opposition, APNU+AFC, but the AFC wants to do its political work for now by itself, and at the right time we will look at coalition politics.”
When asked whether he had discouraged his supporters from attending a recent public meeting held in Linden by the AFC which saw a poor turnout, Norton responded, “I don’t have to, why would I?”
He followed up that he would have made it clear that the AFC was part of the coalition and they still share a “good relationship. And I don’t have to discourage anybody from going but do not forget that people are involved in politics and they will do their own assessment and arrive at what they should do and what they shouldn’t.”
Furthermore, he clarified that he did not know of anyone who would have discouraged their members or supporters to not attend. “Our members and supporters are politically conscious and know what we should support and what they shouldn’t support. I don’t think anybody instructed them or have to instruct them as it relates to understanding the politics of Guyana and doing what they think is best,” he stated.
Asked why in the context of sharing a good relationship did he not encourage his supporters to attend the AFC’s meeting and Norton said that the AFC did not inform his party that they would be holding a meeting in Linden, instead like the population he became aware when he saw it on social media.
“I would assume that if you are a political party and you consider us to be an ally and you are holding a political activity and you want our support you would engage us,” he said.
Since this was not done, Norton said, “I do not know that I had to encourage our supporters to participate in something we weren’t invited to and a suggestion be made that we play a role.”
