The Alliance for Change, which forms part of the coalition government, is contemplating whether it should enter this year’s Local Government Elections outside of the coalition.
On Monday, AFC Leader, Raphael Trotman told reporters that the party is still to make a decision on whether it will go it alone into the 2018 local government polls.
The AFC continues to insist on a review of the shared governance agreement, the Cummingsburg Accord, while noting that it offers guidelines for the contesting of general elections.
Mr. Trotman told reporters that the AFC remains a strong member of coalition and continues to support its work in government.
Notwithstanding this, he said there are varying opinions in the Leadership of the Party which on the one hand calls for the AFC to contest the local elections alone and on the other hand for the Party to enter into a new accord.
“Because the Cummingsburg Accord was just for national elections, we are assessing the views of our party leaders,” Trotman said.
The AFC had entered into an alliance with the five-party APNU coalition mere months before the 2015 general elections.
Last year, the AFC said it hopes for a review of the agreement by February this year.
Trotman said the Party is still working towards this and has already identified a team to represent the party in future negotiations.
In the meantime, the Party is engaged in a process of canvassing the views of its membership
Trotman said the AFC will meet with the APNU on this issue, after which it will make a decision on how it intends to move forward.
The main party in the coalition is the People’s National Congress. With a national network already in place, the PNC would be able to easily canvas votes for the APNU should it be forced to head into local government elections on its own.
Political watchers believe the AFC on the other hand is not known to have a solid base at the local level and that could possibly result in a poor showing at any local government elections if it goes on its own.
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