GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, Friday dismissed a statement by former opposition legislator, James Bond endorsing President Irfaan Ali for a second term.
President Irfaan Ali with red cap, getting the endorsement of James Bond (with shades) on Thursday“The only time something like that becomes a concern is if the people who are going have a support base, and from the evidence none of them that went before had a support base. The support base is a PNC,” said Norton, who also heads the main opposition People’s National Congress (PNC).
Norton said he does not believe Bond’s support of Ali will have any impact on the PNC, saying “everybody is going to be concerned if somebody isn’t supporting you, but the question is, is it going to impact you to the point where it will affect your success and here is where I am saying, it wont affect us to the point where it impacts our access, as I have said before there are many of left”.
Bond, an attorney and businessman, Thursday along with several residents of Melanie, East Coast Demerara, publicly endorsed Ali, who heads the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) for a second consecutive term as head of state.
“President Ali is one person who has always remembered me,” Bond said, embracing the President with a warm hug. Since he was a minister, he always remembered me. He is a friend to me, and I’m giving you my full support for a second term. I’ve said it publicly,” said Bond, who is a PNC member and had last year supported Norton when he was contesting the leadership of the opposition party.
Norton said he has no doubt that the opposition will contest the next general elections later this year as a united front.
“I have no doubt that there will be a cohesive party. I am engaging all members of our party. A party like ours has a history and that history and institution—those two will help us, so I am not worried about the cohesion and we will work to further unite the party and not everybody that run out there and say something is indicative to lack of cohesion in the party,” Norton told reporters.
The PNC leader has been engaging a number of opposition parties ahead of the polls and is expected to meet with the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), who were key members of the grouping, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), that had won the elections in 2015.
Meanwhile, AFC leader, Nigel Hughes, has brushed aside an assurance given by the Guyana Elections Commission(GECOM) that this year’s regional and general elections will be free, fair, transparent and credible.
Hughes said his party is maintaining its calls for a total reform and overhaul of the elections body before the polls.
“You would have to be possessed of the most creative imagination if any institution after having admitting the errors that GECOM admitted to recently…after have a slew of missteps, and after having every election challenged for someone reason or the other that anybody would repose some confidence or attribute any credibility to any institution like GECOM,” . Hughes said.
He said GECOM has consistently demonstrated its inability and incapacity and cannot expect Guyanese to take any statement from the current body seriously
“We would like to repeat everything that we would have said before in relation to GECOM including having the Chair of GECOM resign from her position, we are now in 2025 and upon GECOM’s admission we have a person who continue to sit in the National Assembly who as a result of their error ought not to be there and they have not had the decency to provide to this country, any course of action that they intend to take to rectify their error,” Hughes added.
On Thursday, GECOM condemned suggestions that it was colluding with persons to rig the 2025 elections and promised a transparent electoral process.
“GECOM takes this opportunity to assure all stakeholders that it will deliver free, fair, transparent and credible elections and that they should guard against persons whose sole intention is to undermine their trust and confidence in the Commission.”
