A New and United Guyana (ANUG) will be contesting the next elections with the Federal United Party (FedUP).
The announcement was made by members of ANUG at a press conference at the Georgetown Cricket Club, Bourda, Georgetown. No member of FedUP –a party based in Region Six –were present due to their unavailability, according to ANUG chairman Timothy Jonas.
Both parties were launched in January 2019.
The two sides have not yet decided on a name for the new party but Jonas has assured that former Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Ralph Ramkarran, will retain the Presidential Candidate post.
Asked what FedUP will be bringing to the table since it has not had much of a public image since its launch, Jonas said: “I am satisfied they have demonstrated self-sufficiency.”
ANUG’s aim is to provide support to any small party which cannot make it to Nominations Day on January 10.
Jonas said the ANUG had engaged The Citizenship Initiative (TCI), The New Movement (TNM), The Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Kingdom Liberal Movement (KLM) and the People’s Republic Party (PRP).
However, TNM and JLP has chosen to go to the elections alone while the PRP and KLM’s stance on homosexuality and other biblical morals were deal breakers.
Jonas said ANUG is still in talks with TCI and will accept any party which shares its policies.
“There should not be a competition among the new parties which are emerging if we can help it but you have to temper pragmatism with morality, with policy and you cannot compromise with policy to make an accommodation which may look pragmatic,” he said.
As it has said from the start, ANUG is not aiming to be the Government but merely to secure seats in the 65-member National Assembly to be the swing vote on the passage of bills and amendments.
This is based on the reality that the majority of the Guyanese citizenship –at least historically –vote based on their ethnicity. As such, ANUG and now FedUP hopes to capture the 25-30% of independent voters.
The party is campaigning on shared governance and Constitutional Reform –initiatives supported by the FedUP party.
Among the changes it wishes to make is for the appointment of bi-partisan Boards to govern state-owned agencies.
ANUG also hopes to increase the representation of individual constituencies at the highest level of governance.
According to Jonas, the party will seek to get the support of the opposition to push its changes and if those are not assented to by the President, it will foist another No-Confidence Motion in the Government.
Also addressing the press conference was Akaani Blair, ANUG’s member in Linden, Region Ten who believes the APNU+AFC administration has failed the mining town.
He said in 2015, Lindeners celebrated the coalition’s win but after one term in office, the Government’s popularity has dropped significantly.
