GEORGETOWN, Guyana – June 19, 2025 – A new rift has emerged between two of Guyana’s opposition parties, as the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) rejected assertions from the Alliance For Change (AFC) that it had insisted on naming the coalition’s prime ministerial candidate.
In a brief but pointed statement on Thursday, APNU spokesperson Sherwood Lowe described the AFC’s version of events as “misleading,” saying the APNU never sought control over the selection of the coalition’s Prime Ministerial nominee.
“APNU never proposed that it must name the PM candidate for the coalition. Never,” Lowe told reporters in a WhatsApp message.
The dispute erupted following the AFC’s announcement on Wednesday that the coalition talks collapsed in part because of what it described as APNU’s demand to name the AFC’s prime ministerial pick,a break from what the AFC said had been the agreed negotiation framework.
According to the AFC, APNU’s response to a formal proposal made on June 16 was a demand to also select the PM candidate, a request the party said was “totally unacceptable” and contrary to the protocol of their discussions. The AFC claimed they were informed on June 18 that APNU had rejected the latest proposal.
But Lowe pushed back, stating that APNU had simply decided, given the timeline, to choose its own candidate, not the coalition’s. “Let me stress: to select APNU’s PM candidate, not the coalition’s PM candidate,” he clarified.
The issue came to a head when APNU confirmed on Wednesday that AFC Executive Member Juretha Fernandes would be its nominee for the Prime Minister post. That announcement appears to have blindsided the AFC, which responded by revoking Fernandes’s membership, along with those of Sherod Duncan and Deonarine “Ricky” Ramsaroop. The party said it took the step after being unable to reach the three and later confirming that they had joined APNU.
So far, AFC’s top brass have declined to comment further on the fallout or clarify their internal decision-making process.
As the blame game continues, Lowe expressed frustration at the drawn-out nature of the coalition talks. He suggested that an agreement could have been reached months ago if the AFC had stayed with its initial proposal, which gave APNU a 65 percent share in the partnership and allowed it to name the Representative of the List; a key role in Guyana’s electoral process responsible for naming parliamentarians and communicating with the Elections Commission.
But AFC Chairman David Patterson sees it differently. He told reporters that, as far as he understood, the agreement had always been that the Representative of the List would come from the party not producing the presidential candidate. That arrangement, he said, was meant to preserve balance and fairness within any coalition.
With tensions now at a public high, it remains unclear whether either party will attempt to repair the fractured alliance before national elections. What’s clear, though, is that the political opposition heads into the next electoral cycle more divided than ever.
