At a meeting that did not last for more than 10 minutes, Leader of the WIN party, Azruddin Mohamed, was this morning elected unopposed as the Opposition Leader.

Members of the Opposition gathered at the Parliament buildings for the meeting and elections at 10 o’clock.
Inside the meeting, Mohamed was the only person nominated for the position, as the APNU maintained its position that it would not have been putting up any nominees for the post.

The APNU Members left the meeting early as they stated that with one nominee, there was no need for a vote.

The vote was still done and Mohamed pulled all 16 votes from his members and the one vote from the Forward Guyana Movement.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Opposition Leader Mohamed said he is pleased that the process is now complete and he will now get down to more work to keep the Government accountable.

“We are going to press hard to stamp out corruption. Corruption is a major issue in this country and that is why the PPP Government is afraid of us because they know that they cannot divide us, for two long those two parties have divided the nation and our party is the only multi-ethnic party”, he stated.

On the issue of the various parliamentary committees being put in place, Mohamed noted based on proportional representation, the WIN party and the APNU will be represented on all of the Committees. He, however, noted that his party will make space on some of the committees for Amanza Walton-Desir of the Forward Guyana Movement.

He thanked his supporters from across the country who have remained at his side. He noted that during the elections he was blocked from visiting a number of areas, but he is hopeful that he will be able to do now as Leader of the Opposition.

Mohamed said his entry into politics is to represent the people of the country and that is what he plans to do.

“I announced by candidacy because of the people of this country. I am not here for the title or prestige, because of the people and that is why I am here”, he said.

Mr. Mohamed said as Opposition Leader, he intends to raise major issues of importance to the citizens and also keep the governing party’s feet to the fire. He said the door is open to working along with the APNU, which is also in opposition.

APNU Parliamentary Lead, Dr. Terrence Campbell said his party is open to working along with WIN on various parliamentary and opposition issues.

“We look forward to working with WIN and we hope that there will be improvement in collaboration between us and WIN going forward. It has not been the best road so far, but we took the position not to nominate anyone and we hope they will see that as a signal and we expect an improvement”, Campbell said.

He defended the APNU’s position to leave the meeting once it became clear that there was only one nomination.

“We said our position on Friday, as long as there is only one nomination, there is no need for voting and there is no need for us to stay”, he said.

Meanwhile, Forward Guyana Movement Member of Parliament, Amanza Walton-Desir, said she has a constitutional duty to attend and cast a vote at the meeting of Opposition members, and that is exactly what she did.

“Understand that for a Candidate to enter into the elections, there are requirements, If a candidate meets those requirements, they are allowed to contest in the elections, and the people vote in a particular way, who are we to ignore how the people have voted”, she said.

Guyanese went to the polls in early September, with the new Parliament being opened in early November. It took three months before the meeting of the Opposition members was called by the Speaker to elect the Opposition Leader.

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