Latest update January 27th, 2026 1:30 AM
President denies delaying Parliament to stall election of Opposition Leader
(Kaieteur News) – “Mr. Mohamed does not influence anything the government does in relation to parliament or our development agenda.”
This sharp rebuke was sounded by President Irfaan Ali who has strongly denied delaying the nation’s business in the National Assembly to stall the election of an Opposition Leader.
President Irfaan Ali
The Head of State, on the sidelines of an event last weekend, was asked about the presentation of the 2026 Budget and the reason for the prolonged delay in the election process for the Leader of the Opposition.
He said, “Our focus now is working on the budget. Our focus is on the agenda that I have laid out. As head of the executive arm of government that is my focus right now. At the appropriate time ofcourse we will lay out our Parliamentary agenda and head to Parliament to get that agenda completed.”
When asked if this was likely in the first quarter, he said, “We have to advance to Parliament on many issues so I won’t give you a timeframe (like) within the first quarter. You will be surprised how soon before or after it can be.”
While responding to a question on the reason for the delay in the convening of Parliament, he argued, “Mr Mohamed does not influence anything the government does in relation to parliament or our development agenda. Our development agenda has already been crafted in our manifesto in which the overwhelming majority of the Guyanese people elected us so we are focused on delivering what the Guyanese people elected us to do and that is to fulfill our manifesto.”
Presumptive Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the WIN party, Azruddin Mohamed.
To this end, the President discounted suggestions that government was stalling on convening Parliament to avoid him being elected.
“The Opposition can elect whoever they want as Opposition leader so its absolutely ridiculous. That’s their business. We have no business in the opposition electing whoever they want as opposition leader. Our only business is advancing our development agenda,” Ali pointed out.
The 13th Parliament convened on November 3, 2025, when government and opposition MPs were sworn in. Since then, no date has been announced for Speaker Nadir to preside over a sitting to elect the opposition leader.
We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), led by sanctioned businessman, Azruddin Mohamed currently holds the majority of opposition seats in the National Assembly, with 16 MPs. A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has 12 seats, while Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) holds one. More recently Western diplomats with opposition parties and other stakeholders in calling for the election of the Opposition Leader to be done swiftly.
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