AFC can become next Gov’t with or without Coalition – Nigel Hughes
Leader of the AFC, Nigel Hughes
Kaieteur News – Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Nigel Hughes on Friday said he is confident in the party’s ability to overthrow the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) at the next Regional and General Elections, scheduled for 2025.
The PPP emerged victorious in the 2020 elections and returned to govern the country, following 23 years in office. Prior to its election, it was the AFC and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU/AFC) Coalition that governed between 2015 and 2020.
During a media conference, the Leader was asked what weight he was placing on the Hinterland community to either create a minority government or outperform the PPP.
To this end, the Attorney-at-Law pointed out, “The Alliance For Change is a political entity, as far as I know, has never aimed for second best. They may end up with second best but it’s never aimed for second best so we are not aiming for a minority government.”
He continued, “We believe that this is a different dispensation in Guyana and we believe we have as equal an opportunity as anybody else at the end of the campaign of forming a government. Whether we do that alone, whether we do that in some other combination we believe we can do that.”
As such, he said the party was not concentrating on the Hinterland because it is aiming to create a minority government but simply owing to the fact that this Region has been “badly treated”.
When he was asked if the Indigenous community would be more instrumental in a victory for the AFC, Hughes said it was fictitious. According to him, “Every single citizen, every single ethnicity, every single class, every single person whether abled or challenged, all of them, they are all important to us.”
Since Nigel Hughes was elected Leader of the AFC, the party has redoubled efforts in highlighting the plight of Indigenous communities. In fact, former rights activist, Laura George, who was a member of the Non-Governmental Organization, Amerindian Peoples’ Affairs (APA) resigned to team up with the AFC. George now uses her platform to highlight the difficulties encountered by Amerindians in their daily life while also lobbying for key governance shifts in those communities.
The AFC, founded in 2005, contested its first National Elections in 2006 where it copped five seats in the National Assembly. In the 2011 elections, the party’s votes increased, securing seven seats in Parliament.
Prior to the 2015 Elections, the AFC formed a Coalition the APNU where the group defeated the PPP, winning 33 seats in total. Over the years, the APNU and AFC have had differences causing the parties to part ways, following a seven-year union. The two parties have not yet decided whether they will contest the next elections as a Coalition.
