APNU/AFC Coalition Disintegrates, Divided on its Inevitable Demise

Members of the APNU/AFC coalition government are now at loggerheads with each other as to the way forward – whether to concede defeat and accept the swearing in of Dr. Irfaan Ali or to keep, as Mr. Dominic Gaskin put it yesterday, “hijacking, ridiculing and tearing apart” the country of Guyana, South America.

Having lost the March 2, 2020 elections, the APNU/AFC coalition politicians have been trying all means of remaining in power. This is reminiscent of the December 2018 no-confidence motion when the coalition government fell by one vote against it by one if its own parliamentarians. When that happened, the government announced that they would explore all options of remaining in power – and they did – even going as far as the Caribbean Court of Justice to try to prove that 33 is not a majority of a 65 seat parliament.

After failing to rig the elections by declaring fabricated results on March 4, the coalition government went to great lengths to block a recount. They finally agreed to a recount on the condition that all ten regions are recounted, and not just the disputed Region 4 votes. The recount was carried out under the scrutiny of a CARICOM Team and proved that the PPP/C has won by over 15,000 votes.

Now the coalition government is crying a different kind of foul. They are contending that dead and migrated voters and numerous inconsistencies have rendered the March 2, 2020 elections non-credible.

As the GECOM Chair, Claudette Singh, ordered the Chief Elections Officer to prepare a report based on the recount result, a coalition supporter filed an injunction to block the recount. The matter is presently being heard in court with a decision to be made by the afternoon of Monday, 22nd of June, 2020.

But not all coalition members are die hard riggers. Some of them have yielded to conscience and come forward. Among these are leader of the Justice For All Party, CN Sharma, the AFC leader and coalition prime ministerial candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan and AFC’s Dominic Gaskin. These politicians have conceded defeat and called on their colleagues to be fair to the Guyanese people and let democracy prevail.

Indeed, the swearing in of the PPP/C presidential candidate is inevitable at this time, and actions by coalition hardliners will only buy the corrupt politicians a limited time in office. Given the developing rift in the APNU/AFC coalition, it is doubtful whether it will survive to contest another election together in Guyana, South America. It appears that the APNU/AFC coalition is disintegrating, divided on its inevitable demise.