Politics

AFC says talks with APNU on hold over PM candidate: The Alliance For Change (AFC) has said talks with governing coalition partner APNU for a 2020 elections pact have stalled over the latter’s apparent unwillingness to accept its nominee for the post of prime minister, posing the most serious threat yet to the Cummingsburg Accord which led to the removal of the PPP/C in the 2015 polls. As a consequence, AFC, which has refused to compromise on its nomination of its Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, will spend its National Executive Committee meeting on November 2nd deciding “on its mode of participation in the upcoming General and Regional Elections.” AFC Executive Dominic Gaskin told a news conference last Thursday that the naming of the Presidential and PM candidates by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and AFC remains a “fundamental and non-negotiable” tenet of the coalition. “It is the basis on which we will enter into any coalition” he stressed, adding that the party will also not consider changing its PM candidate.

Lawrence says coalition negotiations not stalled: A day after the AFF made its position known, APNU’s lead negotiator Volda Lawrence disputed the claim. “We have no indication from the AFC that these talks have come to an end, they are stalled or any of those issues that I see bandying about in the media,” Lawrence, also the Minister of Public Health and Chairwoman of the PNCR, told a press conference at PNCR headquarters, Congress Place. The PNCR Chairwoman stressed that despite recent reports in the media, the coalition remains strong. She explained that from her point of view, the negotiations have paused only because the AFC’s chief negotiator, David Patterson, is out of the country. “The negotiations are still in place…We will resume our negotiations upon his return. We have been able to provide our leaders a list of core principles which were not rejected. We are at the accord now [and] we have every confidence that this team will be able to complete its work,” Lawrence stressed.