Re-elected leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Aubrey Norton says he is open to the idea of a “consensus Presidential candidate” for the 2025 elections but insists no one from potential coalition parties, such as the AFC, should be chosen.
The PNCR Congress – the main opposition party’s highest decision-making body – declared Norton to be the Presidential Candidate, but left it open for him to decide if someone else should be chosen.
Appearing on the Bobby Vieira show – “Bobby in the morning” – on 104.1 FM on July 2, Norton went on to clarify that he did not believe, nor was he willing to accept, a consensual presidential candidate from parties that make up 10 or 5 percent of the votes.
“It makes no sense,” he said. “I am speaking of a consensual candidate as it relates to the People’s National Congress Reform,” he told Vieira.
To underscore the point, Vieira asked Norton whether, in keeping with democratic principles, he was “open to someone within the structure of the coalition to come out as a viable candidate.”
Norton’s answer was a resounding no. In other words, there is no chance that Norton’s PNCR would ever support a bid by the newly elected leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes, to be the coalition’s Presidential candidate in 2025.
Vieira pressed Norton about statements he had made prior to being elected, particularly whether he was still open to a “consensus presidential candidate.” Norton said yes, stating that it was his understanding that the largest party in the coalition is entitled to choose the Presidential candidate.
“If, per chance, we have to choose a candidate from the PNC, I have no problem with us having a consensual candidate,” Norton stated.
It is understood that Nigel Hughes is interested in being chosen as the Presidential Candidate in a future coalition with the PNCR and the other parties that make up APNU. The two factions formed a Coalition in 2015 and won the seat of government but were voted out three and a half years in.
Hughes has faced questions of conflict of interest now that he is vying for the highest office in the land since his law firm represents ExxonMobil.
Legal experts say that the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 makes him a “politically exposed person” and that this raises the question as to whether ExxonMobil can continue to retain his firm, allowing a “politically exposed person” to represent its interest in Guyana.
The topic has been extensively discussed on social media over recent days with Guyanese asking “whose interest is Hughes representing? ExxonMobil or the people of Guyana?
Hughes had responded by saying that he has been a Politically Exposed Person since 2011 when his wide Cathy Hughes became a member of the National Assembly.
“There is no law which prevents anyone from entering in contracts with PEPS,” Hughes stated on his Facebook page.
Norton told Vieira the PNCR had intellectual leaders capable of standing up to the PPP and he cited himself as such a leader. Norton also went on to say that some members of his party simply don’t understand what makes a candidate electable.
Norton said he believes “any person with the basic competency, with a competent campaign machinery, is electable.” Asked whether he was prepared to have a chat with Nigel Hughes, Norton said he was “prepared to talk with anybody.”
