Following “Inconclusive Negotiations”
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The Alliance For Change (AFC), a member of the coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) government of President David Granger, said it will contest the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) on November 12 on its own.’
The AFC has said that “inconclusive negotiations” with the coalition led to its decision, adding it “only applies for LGE 2018 and does not, in any way, affect the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, nor does it, in any way, change the AFC’s position on coalition politics at the national level. The AFC remains, and reaffirms that it is, committed to the APNU+AFC Coalition.”
The AFC said that Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson is the campaign director and that it is in full preparation mode for LGE, hosting meetings in the various constituencies and identifying potential candidates who will be subject to a rigorous internal vetting process before official appointment.
“Candidates will be addressing the local issues which are of concern to citizens and working collaboratively to find practical and implementable solutions”, the AFC noted.
The party said it is now determining which municipalities and constituencies it will strategically contest as it does not envision contesting in each Neighbourhood Democratic Council and in every constituency of all municipalities until subsequent election cycles.
Late last month, Amna Ally, the General Secretary of the People’s National Congress, another member of the coalition, said that the APNU had already started its campaigning across the country.
While the APNU and AFC went into the last Local Government Elections as coalition partners, there was no formal agreement in place and that created a number of issues at the municipal levels, according to political observers. – CMC
