Fate of APNU/AFC collaboration to be decided on March 31st

The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance for Change (AFC) are set to decide by the end of March 2025, whether the two political parties will collaborate in contesting the upcoming 2025 elections. At a press conference Tuesday, AFC Leader Nigel Hughes told reporters that the APNU and the AFC had inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to examine possibilities that would allow the two parties to work together again in contesting the election.

Hughes said that the AFC remained committed in contesting the upcoming elections even if it meant the party would be going alone. The current position however, was to engage in talks with the APNU to ascertain the move forward.  “We have been authorized by our executive to enter into discussion with other parties. We believe that with some parties, it is better to have documented the parameters of our engagement just so that we are all on the same page. However, there is no change in our commitment to enter into these elections on our own if necessary and any parties which will engage with us in the interest of the country.”

The AFC leader provided no details but noted that certain occurrences would have caused the party to take a pause to put measures in place. “The AFC’s position tonight is that there have been developments which caused us to pause. Now anything that is on life support, the fact that it is on life support I think holds out that there is always hope and promise that we will move from that position to one that is positive but of course, there is an equal possibility of a movement in a less than favourable direction.”

The condition for the revival of an agreement between the two parties to contest the elections together was not stated. Hughes noted however that the MOU is structured in two phases, “The first phase will be an exploratory phase where we examine whether or not it is possible for us to collaborate in the national interest and present a joint team or a single team to contest the next elections.”  The second phase of the document, he said would depend on the success of the first phase.

Under the Cummingsburg Accord which was signed on February 14, 2015, the APNU+AFC contested the elections together against the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), and were able to unseat the more than a decade serving government. Unable to maintain its momentum, APNU+AFC failed to capture the 2020 polls and lost to the PPP.