US-indicted Azruddin Mohamed elected Opposition Leader

United States-indicted businessman Azruddin Mohamed has been elected Leader of the Opposition.

Mohamed and his father, Nazar, have been indicted by a grand jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on 11 criminal charges ranging from wire fraud and mail fraud to money laundering, primarily connected to the export of gold to the US by their company, Mohamed’s Enterprises.

Mohamed’s We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party, which was launched just months before the 2025 elections, gained 16 seats in the National Assembly.

The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which won 12 seats, did not participate in the elections process, while Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), which won one seat and is represented by its leader Amanza Walton-Desir, voted in Mohamed’s favour.

House Speaker Manzoor Nadir had expressed concerns ahead of these elections, noting that “I have found myself in this difficult position to hold the election of the Leader of the Opposition when I know that the presumptive Leader of the Opposition to be elected an is an international fugitive.”

Nadir had urged opposition members to decide whether they believe it will be morally right to elect an international fugitive as Opposition Leader. “I trust that those involved in this process of electing the Leader of the Opposition would be guided by the dignity of the House, the reputation of our country, and the sanctity of the responsibility that has been entrusted upon them by the electorate,” Nadir had noted.

Former Member of Parliament (MP) and Chairman of the Peoples National Congress (PNC), Shurwayne Holder, had also urged opposition parliamentarians against electing Mohamed as Opposition Leader. “My humble advice to the sitting MPs on the Opposition benches: it will be hypocritical of you to complain about corruption, drugs or money- laundering if you choose to elect someone to lead you, who has not successfully cleared their name of those very charges. Your credibility is now on the line,” Holder said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, Attorney General (AG) and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, echoed similar sentiments, arguing that if Mohamed becomes the Opposition Leader, then it would be an indictment on not just Guyana and its Parliament but the region as well.

Mohamed was the only opposition parliamentarian nominated for the position as Opposition Leader.