AFC wants Constitutional Reform to allow for possible Coalition after elections

Jul 08, 2023 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

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Kaieteur News – Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday said he believes that the party would contest the next general elections, slated for 2025, alone should the Constitution be reformed to allow for a Coalition of the parties, post elections.

Ramjattan was at the time addressing reporters during a press conference when he said the AFC believes that the Opposition would be stronger if united, however there are a number of issues that would have to be first ironed out.

While the AFC leader did not elaborate on the matters he look forward to addressing, he said, “We had a Cummingsburg Accord prior to the previous elections, two times and to that extent we would now have to indicate what and what if there are additionals, and I’m absolutely sure there will be additionals before we enter into a Coalition arrangement again.”

It was on February 14, 2015 that the AFC signed the Cummingsburg Accord with the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), binding the two political parties as a Coalition.

They later defeated the PPP at the 2015 elections held in May that year. Since then, the Coalition has stood together but not without its internal hiccups.

While there were a number of disagreements within the Coalition, the parties finally solidified their divorce in January 2023. The decision to split was announced by the AFC in July 2022. Back then, the party said it intended to focus on rebuilding the political group and would therefore not renew the Cummingsburg Accord. It was explained that the partnership agreement that indicated terms of withdrawal within three years to five years. The AFC opted to withdraw on the third year.

Yesterday, Ramjattan said that while he believes the Opposition is stronger together and unifying can defeat the PPP at the next elections, there are other members of the AFC who do not share his view. He was keen to note that any partnership must be grounded in “equality”. The APNU and AFC had a falling out last year over the Region Four Vice Chairman position.

Chairperson of the AFC, Catherine Hughes also shared her views on the issue at yesterday’s press conference, adding that the party understands that importance of partnership and was founded with this in mind. She said it was no coincidence that the party was named ‘Alliance For Change’. To this end, she indicated that while the AFC has a strong Parliamentary relationship with the APNU it remains open to forming other partnerships with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), smaller parties and even civil society members. “We have a very strong relationship in Parliament with the APNU and we are open to discussion with other organizations in Guyana,” Hughes told reporters.

Meanwhile, when it comes to contesting the next general and regional elections as a stand-alone party, the Chairperson said it was still too early to make that declaration.

On the other hand, the leader of the AFC pointed out that there is a Constitutional Reform process that is slated for 2024. According to him, “As you would appreciate, our existing constitutional arrangement does not make it possible for us to go it alone and then at the end of the elections to have a post elections Coalition.”

He pointed out that if the Constitution allows what occurred in 1964, for two parties to form a Coalition and constitute a majority after an elections, then the AFC would certainly contest the next elections alone. However, Ramjattan noted, “Since we do not have that Constitutional provision, it being abolished some time in 1980, if you want now to be in government, you have to join up because in our present constitution or provisions in the Constitutions, the party with the highest number of votes forms the government and wins the Presidency.”

As such, he said this can lead to what obtained in 2011 when the PPP won 49 percent of the votes and still became government. He said this could not have happened in 1964 since the law allowed for parties to collate post elections and form a government.

To this end, Ramjattan explained, “So going it alone certainly will be done by the AFC if we can have a Constitutional amendment again that can take us back to that scenario. If it does not take it back to that scenario, we feel that there is, under the existing regime, a perfect example of going it together to win against or to change the government. We would have to go it together.”

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• Coalition, Constitution, Elections, parties, Reform

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