Former President and Former leader of the People’s National Congress/Reform, David Granger, has stated that he is fully behind the new list which will be put forward by the PNC-led APNU Coalition, headed by Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton.

In an interview with News Source, Mr. Granger said although the final list for APNU or a possible coalition has not been submitted yet, he will back the PNC-APNU list.

“There is a single Presidential Candidate and one representative of the list. Votes cannot be cast for the individual persons or individual parties in a coalition.  Votes are considered to be cast for the coalition as a whole, as the constituent parties do not submit separate lists. This means, legally, that my vote for the PNC-APNU or any pre-election coalition that incorporates the APNU, will constitute support for every candidate on that single list. The answer is yes. I support the PNC and APNU in any shape or form,” Granger told News Source.

The former President said despite his support for the party, recent developments including resignations of a number of party members cannot be ignored. He said not only are the resignations damaging to the party, but they have also left sections of the APNU’s support base unrepresented.

He believes that the party can rebound from those resignations.

“The PNC will survive but the prospect of further defections should be detected and, possibly, discouraged. Resignations could trigger the ‘copycat effect’. Other nervous members, in similar situations, may be inclined to depart on their own terms rather than wait to be dismissed. Resignations, especially coming ten weeks before elections, inevitably damage the Party’s credibility, call into question its capability to recapture the government and the competence of its leadership,” Mr. Granger noted.

In addition, Mr. Granger also blamed the Alliance For Change for the failed Coalition talks between APNU and AFC saying that the AFC’s obsession with the Presidential candidacy, Parliamentary seats and Ministerial positions for its most senior members shifted the negotiations from policies to personalities.

“PNC negotiators never fail to remember, but AFC negotiators seem to forget, the impact of ‘Raphael’s revolt’ inside the PNC in 2005. Then, as a serving MP, he quit the Party to launch the AFC but retained his seat in the National Assembly. Recently, and in the midst of negotiations, a prominent AFC member publicly described the APNU+AFC relationship as ‘abusive’.  Negotiations in a toxic atmosphere, could degenerate into acrimony as old injuries resurface and new insults are hurled across the table. History is indelible,” Granger noted.

The former President said the PNC-led APNU also failed to learn the lessons of its losses in the Local Government Elections in June 2023, adding that it was unable to win the four new hinterland capital towns created by the 2025-2020 APNU+AFC Coalition and its overall tally of Local Authority Areas fell.

He said that should have given the party a two-year headstart to recover its constituencies ahead of the upcoming elections.

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