AFC optimistic of agreeing new electoral pact with APNU this week
The Alliance For Change (AFC) is anticipating that consensus on the terms of a new Cummingsburg Accord could be reached by the end of this week with its coalition partner A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and has set next Sunday as the date by which that agreement would be signed.
Following a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) on Saturday, in a statement, the AFC said, “The NEC provided guidance to assist the negotiating team in finalising agreement on the remaining outstanding items. The NEC further agreed to an extended timeline of November 10, 2019 for the signing of the new accord.”
Sources yesterday told this newspaper that the issue of the negotiations was discussed on Saturday and the party holds firm to its stance that its suggested prime ministerial (PM) candidate Khemraj Ramjattan be part of the new accord.
Ramjattan, according to sources close to him, also believes that because of the excellent working relationship he has with President David Granger and Cabinet members, that a consensus will be reached.
“We have to go in positive and we do believe that we will reach an agreement where both sides are happy. The party gives us up to next Sunday to work things out and report back to them and we think that we are on footing,” one source yesterday said.
The deal being hammered out between the two parties to save the Cummingsburg Accord would see the AFC prime minister not becoming president were that position to become vacant, party insiders have explained.
Aside from the views in APNU that the AFC does not merit the primeministership this time around, hardliners in the PNCR are adamant that the PM candidate – in this case Ramjattan – not accede to the presidency if the president had to demit office. Granger has been treated this year for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and his Cuban doctors last week declared that he was in remission.
APNU’s balking at the AFC’s choice of Ramjattan as the PM candidate has brought the elections-winning accord to the brink as the AFC has held strongly to its position. Sources say that while APNU believes that the AFC has lost electoral clout and there is deep-seated resentment that one of its MPs brought down the government, there is a view that the alliance should be preserved.
“They are concerned about succession and if something happens to the president,” one source told this newspaper.
“Although the president is going to appoint the prime minister, the APNU will always have the presidency. It is that language that takes care of it. We are working out the details and one of the things we are also looking at is say, Khemraj takes a vacation [while Prime Minister,] that an APNU will act as PM,” the source added.
Another said that the AFC is willing to agree to the terms of not having the presidency and while its negotiators would have indicated that to APNU’s delegation, it was met with reservation with some still adamant that Ramjattan not be the candidate proposed.
According to the AFC’s statement, the party is now in full election campaign mode and will work towards ensuring that the APNU+AFC coalition government returns to office in March 2020, following general and regional elections.
“At its all-day meeting in Georgetown with representatives from all regions, the party endorsed its campaign plan and strategy presented by its international campaign consultants and approved members of the national campaign committee, campaign directorate, operating structure and campaign budget,” the statement said.
“The committee also received a report and endorsed decisions taken by its coalition negotiating team to arrive at a successor Cummingsburg Accord, to replace the existing agreement, which expires in February 2020,” it added.
Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, who is one of the negotiators, has been selected as the party’s Campaign Manager for the 2020 elections.