Leader of the People’s National Congress (PNC) Aubrey Norton believes Roysdale Forde and Amanza Walton-Desir will have their time to be leaders of the party.
Forde and Walton-Desir had challenged Norton for leadership of the party but had last minute pulled out from the race, citing concerns about electoral irregularities.
Norton, eventually faced with no challengers, emerged leader from those elections.
Speaking during a recent interview with Dr. Asquith Rose on Globespan, Norton commented on these developments.
Norton claimed to still be on good terms with both Forde and Walton-Desir and according to him, their time to lead the party will come one day.
“I’ve spoken to both of them briefly. I was in the park where Amanza was and we had a photo opportunity. I think these are young members of parliament, who with time, will come into their own,” Norton said.
Nevertheless , Norton contended that he has a strong base within the party and whether or not Forde and Walton-Desir had dropped out of the race, the election would have ended in his victory.
But both Walton-Desir and Forde had outlined various concerns with the party’s internal election, including the delay in releasing a preliminary list of delegates and a lack of confidence in the transparency of the elections.
Walton-Desir in a statement had cited serious concerns over procedural fairness and transparency as key reasons for her decision.
Hours after Walton-Desir announced the suspension of her campaign, Forde, SC, announced that he too has taken a decisive step, in the midst of the PNC internal elections turmoil by suspending his campaign and refusing all nominations for party positions. His actions come as a response to what he perceives as severe irregularities within the party’s electoral process.
In his statement, Forde had outlined several critical reasons for his decision, chief among his concerns are allegations of electoral malpractice and procedural flaws that have tainted the integrity of the ongoing election proceedings.
Forde had said that his decision was precipitated by a lack of response to his repeated communications to the Central Executive Committee and the General Secretary regarding his concerns about the transparency and fairness of the electoral process.
