HGP Nightly News – Where votes should have translated into power, politics got in the way. That’s the accusation from the We Invest in Nationhood party, which on Friday leveled serious charges against both the governing PPP and fellow opposition party APNU, alleging coordinated efforts to block WIN from regional leadership positions despite its electoral strength.
“Where WIN’s electoral strength should have translated into institutional leadership, cross-party coordination ensured that it did not,” Opposition Chief Whip and WIN MP Tabitha Sarabo-Halley told reporters at a press conference. “APNU chose to tactically align with the PPP.”
The evidence, she argued, is written in the voting patterns across multiple regions.
In Region 4, the PPP/C candidate secured the chairmanship with 18 votes. The APNU nominee received only 8 votes, despite holding 9 seats on the council. WIN abstained, Sarabo-Halley explained, as a recognition of earlier alignments that had already disadvantaged the party in Regions 8 and 10.
Those regions tell an even starker story.
In Region 8 and 10, Sarabo-Halley said voting behavior demonstrated clear cooperation between the PPP and APNU in ways that effectively excluded WIN from structural leadership roles. In Region 10 specifically, WIN secured 9 seats in an 18-member council, an outright majority. Yet APNU sided with the PPP to prevent WIN from gaining the chairmanship.
Four months later, Region 10 remains without a Regional Chairman. The gridlock continues. The mandate delivered by voters remains unfulfilled.
“APNU’s short-sightedness preferred to leave Region 10 without the leadership that the people voted for,” Sarabo-Halley charged. “The end result is: PPP and APNU councillors were placed on committees, and WIN councillors were excluded.”
The pattern extended beyond leadership elections to committee appointments.
In Region 3, WIN Councillor Renee Rodrigues submitted written correspondence within 15 days of being sworn in, requesting committee placement. The letter was acknowledged by the Chairman. WIN was excluded from all committees.
Region 4 saw the same outcome. A written request for reconstitution based on fairness and proportional representation was submitted. No corrective action has been taken. Region 5? WIN excluded entirely.
Sarabo-Halley drew a sharp contrast between what WIN is experiencing at the regional level and what APNU has demanded at the national level.
WIN, as the largest opposition party in the National Assembly, offered APNU six shadow ministry positions in the spirit of cooperation. APNU wanted eight, based on a proportionality formula. When the demand wasn’t met, WIN was accused of being a bully.
