‘The AFC is not of the same strength it was in 2015’ – Nigel Hughes

Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) and presidential hopeful Nigel Hughes has admitted that his party does not wield the same level of political support it did in 2015 when it was elected to government through a coalition.

Hughes’ admission was made on a regional programme, ‘Caribbean Tea’, which was aired on Sunday. The programme featured Hughes, leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton, and leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr. David Hinds.

“No, the AFC is not of the same strength it was in 2015,” Hughes said, in response to a question posed by one journalist.

He reiterated this position twice during the interview, adding that while the AFC is aware of this, it is “always disposed to making compromise in the best interest of the country”.

Shortly after, he changed position, stating that the AFC has passed the stage of compromise to establish a coalition with the PNCR-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

“Today, as we speak, we’re past that stage [of compromise],” he said when asked whether the AFC is still open to talks with the APNU.

Talks between the two opposition parties on forming a coalition – as they did in 2015 – have collapsed several times over the last few months due to differences in sharing the spoils if they are elected to government.

The AFC has also pushed for a “consensus” presidential candidate to replace Norton whom the APNU has determined will be its presidential candidate in any coalition. In one proposal, the AFC agreed to Norton as the presidential candidate but demanded a greater share of the parliamentary seats the coalition may win; this proposal, like all others, was rejected by APNU.

Despite Hughes’ assertion that the AFC has moved past the stage of compromise towards a coalition, reports had suggested that the executive of the AFC was scheduled to meet within the last 48 hours to discuss making another offer to the APNU.

However, Hughes said he was not aware of any plans for an AFC meeting: “I am not aware of any plans for the AFC to meet.”

In a last-ditch effort to salvage a political partnership, the AFC on Tuesday last submitted a drastically scaled-back coalition proposal to APNU – only to have it rejected shortly after.

The proposal, seen by News Room and confirmed by sources within the AFC, marked a significant retreat by the party, which has been grappling with a wave of defections and declining influence under new leader Hughes. Once demanding parity in coalition arrangements, the AFC’s revised proposal said it would settle for just 35% of political representation — a massive reduction of 30% from what it initially demanded.