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Notes loss of seats to new parties under Forbes Burnham and Robert Corbin
While some parties have a support base that will largely see them through the ups and downs, despite new rivals on the block, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) does not boast that luxury. History, ancient and modern, records the PNCR being vulnerable to the presence of newcomers. Figuring this out a few months too late is the party’s leader, Aubrey Norton.
Hosting a press conference last Friday in his capacity as APNU leader, Norton said the trend of shifting political allegiance recently dawned on him.
Norton chronicled, “In the 1957 elections, we did well. Then, in the 1961 elections, the United Force emerged as a new party, and we lost seats to them. In 2006, the AFC came as a new party, and we lost seats to them again. In 2025, WIN came as a new party, and we lost seats to them.”
Consequent to that realisation, Norton said the party will have to review how it deals with new parties. Furthermore, he stated that the party will need to understand “the phenomenon of why, when new parties emerge, our support base seems to go in another direction.”
Norton said that the party lost seats under the leadership of founding member Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, along with Robert Corbin, and now under him.
“It is something we have to analyse and decide how to move on… It is probably signalling that our support base might be more welcoming of new parties. We have to analyse, get to the bottom of it, and then develop our strategies and tactics,” the leader said.
