Following an exchange of letters over opposition representation on the Local Government Commission (LGC), PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton says he is prepared to meet Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and discuss several outstanding disputes, but wants the engagement held at a mutually agreed venue rather than at the headquarters of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN).
APNU wrote Mohamed on August 19 objecting to the exclusion of its nominees from the three names submitted for appointment to the LGC. Mohamed replied yesterday, inviting Norton and an APNU delegation to meet him and WIN representatives at Serenity Court, Providence, on Monday at 11 am.
Contacted last evening by Kiskadee Watch, Norton said he had not yet received Mohamed’s letter but was willing to meet.
“I am prepared to meet, but not at WIN’s office. It must be at a neutral venue,” Norton told this publication,
Asked whether he was willing to discuss the three additional issues identified in Mohamed’s letter—the opposition-nominated GECOM commissioners, scrutineers for the registration process and the election of the Region Ten Chairman and Vice-Chairman—Norton said he was prepared to discuss any issue.
However, he restated APNU’s position that neither he nor the other opposition party leaders has the authority to remove the three serving opposition-nominated commissioners from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
“I have made it clear in the past that neither me nor any of the leaders has the authority to remove the commissioners,” Norton said.
According to him, the commissioners could leave office if they resigned voluntarily or died, or if the government and opposition amended the constitutional arrangement to change GECOM from a permanent commission to a temporary one.
The three opposition-nominated commissioners—Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman—were appointed under the previous parliamentary configuration. They have resisted calls from Mohamed and WIN to resign following the party’s emergence as the main opposition at the September 1, 2025 elections.
The commissioners have maintained that a change in the opposition leadership does not terminate their appointments and that there is no simple constitutional mechanism for their removal.
The Carter Center recently expressed “considerable concern” about the resulting impasse, warning that without a fully functioning commission, GECOM could be unable to organise Local Government Elections within the statutory timeframe or implement reforms ahead of the next general elections.
Mohamed has advised President Irfaan Ali to appoint attorneys Roysdale Forde SC, Siand Dhurjon and Damien Da Silva as opposition-nominated commissioners after consultations with APNU and the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM). The President has not provided a substantive response.
Scrutineers
On the dispute over opposition scrutineers, Norton said talks could proceed only if Mohamed withdrew the appointments which he has purportedly made.
“We will have a discussion on the matter of the scrutineers on the precondition that the so-called appointments of scrutineers are withdrawn and we start afresh,” he said.
The Office of the Leader of the Opposition has said that none of the 69 opposition scrutineers currently being remunerated by GECOM represents WIN or FGM.
It has said Mohamed consulted the parliamentary opposition parties and submitted a new allocation, but Chief Election Officer Vishnu Persaud subsequently questioned whether that process satisfied the statutory requirement for meaningful consultation.
The Office has challenged GECOM’s authority to determine the adequacy of the Opposition Leader’s consultations.
GECOM Chairperson retired Justice Claudette Singh, Persaud and Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward were contacted for responses to the allegations. A response was initially promised but the commission later said it would not provide one that day.
Local Government Commission
The proposed meeting follows an August 19 letter from APNU to Mohamed expressing disappointment over the manner in which he selected three opposition nominees for appointment to the Local Government Commission (LGC).
APNU said it learnt through a news report that Mohamed had submitted the names of WIN members Leola Narine and Leslyn Lowe and FGM’s Nicholas Chesney to President Ali without officially informing APNU Chairman Norton.
The party said Mohamed’s office had earlier requested names for consideration and that Norton had recommended Joan Ann Ramascindo and Ronald Daniels.
“The clear and reasonable expectation was that, after seeking APNU’s recommendations, you would select at least one of those two names for inclusion among the three nominees submitted to the President,” the letter said.
APNU pointed out that it holds 12 seats in the National Assembly, compared with WIN’s 16 and FGM’s one, and has elected councillors in several municipalities and neighbourhood democratic councils.
It argued that since no law prevented APNU from being represented on the LGC, fairness and political proportionality should have guided the selection.
President Ali began the consultation process for appointments to the LGC in July. Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira asked Mohamed to consult the other parliamentary parties and advise the President on three appointments under Section 4(1)(b) of the Local Government Commission Act.
That provision allows the President to appoint three members acting on the advice of the Opposition Leader following consultation with the other parliamentary parties.
In his reply to Norton, Mohamed said WIN had always been open to constructive engagement with the other opposition parties.
He pointed to cooperation following the MV Barima tragedy and said WIN had facilitated APNU’s participation in parliamentary committees. According to Mohamed, WIN agreed to allow APNU an alternate on the Economic Services and Foreign Relations committees and supported the party taking the vice-chairmanship of the Natural Resources Committee.
Mohamed invited Norton and an APNU delegation to discuss the dispute over the LGC nominees as well as the three broader issues affecting the opposition.
Region Ten deadlock
On the Region Ten chairmanship, Norton said APNU had approached WIN following last year’s elections in an effort to reach an agreement, but WIN indicated that it was not prepared to negotiate over the region because it had won it outright.
WIN secured nine of the Region Ten Regional Democratic Council’s 18 seats, while APNU won five, the PPP/C three and FGM one.
At the council’s first statutory meeting on October 10, voting for Chairman ended in a 9-9 tie between WIN candidate Mark Goring and APNU’s Dominique Blair. The APNU candidate received the support of the party’s five councillors along with the three PPP/C representatives and the lone FGM councillor.
The council has not since been reconvened to complete the election of its Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
WIN and FGM subsequently reached an agreement which gave them a combined 10-seat majority and called for another meeting, but the Region Ten leadership remains unresolved.
WIN has accused APNU of voting with the PPP/C to prevent it from assuming control of a region in which it secured half of the council seats.
Norton, however, pointed to WIN’s conduct during the election of the Region Four Chairman, saying its abstention could also be considered assistance to the PPP/C since it enabled that party to take control of the council.
Stabroek News reported that the PPP/C won the Region Four chairmanship and vice-chairmanship for the first time after the opposition parties failed to cooperate.
The PPP/C held 17 of the 35 council seats, while APNU, WIN and FGM collectively held 18. WIN abstained after saying it had been shut out of key positions in Regions Eight and Ten.
PPP/C candidate Clemsford Belgrave received 18 votes, indicating that an opposition councillor had also supported him. APNU’s candidate received eight votes although the party held nine seats.
The PPP/C’s Deoraj Nauth was elected Vice-Chairman.
“I want to make it clear that one of the things that has to happen—WIN has 16 seats, we have 12 seats—and there has to be proportionality,” Norton said. “We have to agree on proportionality on all the matters discussed.”
Discussion