Last updated on Friday, 8 January 2021, 15:31 by Denis Chabrol
Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU + AFC) is targeting support from a new Democratic government led by Joe Biden to replace the People’s Progressive Civic Party (PPPC) from office, and wants the President Donald Trump is leaving prison.
Opposition Leader Office Executive Director Aubrey Norton said Guyana and the opposition A Partnership for National Unity + AFC would have to engage with Democratic administration led by Joe Biden in a number of areas such as securing support against Venezuela on the debate at the border, support for the United States in multilateral forums and pressure on the ruling People’s Progressive Party.
With Mr Joe Biden due to be sworn in as the next US President on January 20, Mr Norton says APNU + AFC must leave the door open to enter into talks with the Biden-led Democratic administration.
He says Guyana needs to secure the Biden administration’s support for Guyana’s position on the border debate with Venezuela as well as offering support to the United States in multilateral forums. These two, he said, must be done at the same time while the coalition is lobbying the Biden administration for support against the Party-led People’s Progressive administration. “As APNU + AFC, it has some interest that we need to follow to ensure that the United States understands what is happening in Guyana and so we can work towards unity and support from them to help us get get rid of this criminal cabal called the PPP that claims to control Guyana, ”said Mr Norton, a former University of Guyana Political Science lecturer and former Foreign Service Officer.
Together, Democrats and Republicans had called on APNU + AFC to begin the peaceful transfer of power to the PPP.
Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon welcomed the return to normalcy at Capitol and stopped saying that that country had to operate in a democratic way as it had been considered for decades. “APNU + AFC believes that the United States of America must act in a manner consistent with the global leadership role it has exercised in recent decades and must do so quickly, He said.
Alliance for Change (AFC) Leader Khemraj Ramjattan also dismissed Mr Trump, backing calls in the US and elsewhere for President Donald Trump’s imprisonment for allegedly initiating a violent invasion of the Capitol Building on Wednesday.
“I think they should get him locked up immediately after swearing (Joseph) Biden,” he said on the coalition’s social media program on Thursday night.
Several American diplomats in the Caribbean have said that those responsible for the invasion of the Capitol Building in Washington DC should be held while the election results are certified accountable. Many of Mr Trump’s cabinet members have since resigned and there are growing calls for him to be dismissed before Mr Biden takes his oath in January 20, 2020.
Mr Ramjattan, who acknowledged close ties between his party and US political decision-makers, also wants Mr Trump jailed for allegedly initiating a Capitol Building invasion by a crowd. The AFC Leader said he was a little concerned about what Vice President Mike Pence would do because he would not want Trump to be pardoned. Instead, he preferred to see Mr. Trump diagnosed and convicted for loss. “This is quieter behavior by the American President and not just those young people who entered the Capitol Building. The President, and the Constitution, have if you act with malice and you misbehave for what they call misconduct and a felony on the job. When you are gone in twelve days, fourteen days from now, they should hold it, line it up and put it in what you call an orange jacket, ”said Mr Ramjattan.
President Trump has since said he would boycott Mr Biden’s inauguration, the first time in 151 years. Mr Trump has condemned those who invaded the Capitol Building. “The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have contaminated the seat of American democracy. For those who took part in the acts of violence and destruction, you are not representing our country, ”he said in the midst of calls for it to be enforced. The American Ambassadors to Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago have indicated that those responsible for the disorder would be held accountable.
Ramjattan Mr. Norton again flaunted the Trump administration for playing a major role in pressuring their David Granger-led coalition to surrender defeat in the March 2, 2020 general elections. They said the incident that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday had counteracted say US democratic policies globally. Mr Norton says the Trump-led Republican administration acted in his own interests when he intervened in Guyana’s Election process.
The United States led the global battle, along with Britain and Canada, in organizations such as the American, Commonwealth, European Union and Caribbean Community so that the results of the national vote recount could be used to declare the March 2 winner, 202o general and regional elections.
With the exception of Region Four where there have been repeated concerns that the results have been inflated in favor of APNU + AFC, all other regions had reflected the results of the Voting Statements.
APNU + AFC has refused to release copies of its Voting Statements, but has repeatedly asserted the absence of documentation to reconcile the votes in several ballot boxes, and the imitation of an alleged deceased voter and migrants supports its claims of widespread rigging by the PPP.