On Saturday evening at Cuffy Square, Georgetown, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) closed its campaign with a contrite, high-energy rally that blended apology with audacity.
Speaker after speaker acknowledged past shortcomings, asked undecided voters for one “last chance” and pressed a single, insistent refrain ahead of Monday’s polls: “Don’t split the vote.”
The unity call, aimed squarely at opposition supporters now engaged by smaller and newer parties, was the rally’s spine.
The coalition’s leaders warned that dividing the anti-PPP/C vote, an appeal that was made in a recent video by AFC Leader Nigel Hughes, would blunt the opposition’s ability to compete.
Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton struck a reflective tone, conceding that APNU “made mistakes” but arguing the party has listened and learnt. He made no mention of the attempts in 2020 to rig the elections.
But Norton promised to “change how we do public works” and promised more social workers and psychologists embedded in communities; an early childhood education network; and a standards-driven push to lift secondary school matriculation towards 95%.
The coalition’s penitent posture was not simply strategic varnish; several speakers grounded it in personal history. Ronald Daniels offered the night’s rawest testimony, recalling a childhood shaped by his mother’s mental-health struggles, hunger and early work.
“I wanted to become a gangster… that was my genuine aspiration as a child,” he admitted, crediting a mentor’s intervention with pulling him off that path.
His policy pitch flowed from that story: stipends for technical/vocational students, state-of-the-art skills centres, guaranteed school meals and basic supplies, and a promise that once a young person turns 18, a route to owning a home should exist “as surely as the right to vote”.
APNU’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Juretha Fernandes, kept returning to the hinterland, an indigenous woman herself who spent most of the week’s campaigning there, a price-moderation plan for the interior, better supply chains, and strict standards for rural health posts. She also reiterated headline pledges: a 35% increase in public-service pay, a minimum wage of $200,000, and no PAYE for those earning under $400,000.
If Norton and Fernandes supplied the empathy, Ganesh Mahipaul, APNU’s Vice-Presidential candidate, brought the swagger.
“From the womb to the tomb, life in Guyana could be sweet and easy,” he told supporters, if resources are “managed properly and transparently.”
He repeated the $200,000 minimum wage and $400,000 tax-threshold commitments and added consumer-friendly flourishes: halving the cost of four-door pickups by removing duty, VAT and excise—cutting the price from about $21 million to $11.5 million, by his count. He also promised free land for first-time owners aged 18 and over, with the state building starter homes to be paid off via modest monthly rents.
Mahipaul’s fiercest lines were political, not policy: a sustained appeal to opposition voters to keep their ballots green, not blue, contending that only a consolidated APNU vote can mount a credible challenge.
Entrepreneur and candidate Terrence Campbell anchored APNU’s economic case in price stability and governance. Invoking Forbes Burnham’s “watch with me for one more night”, he asked the crowd to “watch with us for one more night” and said that by Tuesday, APNU would be in office.
Campbell argued that the state should not be shy about deploying or strengthening entities such as GuySuCo or the Guyana Marketing Corporation to steady prices in volatile markets, as happened during previous fuel dips.
On governance, he pledged to strengthen the Access to Information Act, tighten the Procurement Act, and give the opposition a seat on oversight bodies, including the Natural Resource Fund boards, to ensure “full visibility” over oil revenues.
He touted 40,000 new full-time jobs, a development bank, a junior stock exchange, and set-aside programmes for youth, women and minority-owned firms. He went further, vowing to eliminate foreign debt over the medium term, positioning resilience—not just growth—as the endgame.
APNU figures acknowledged what they described as a “poor showing” earlier in the season, yet insisted that late momentum—and disciplined turnout—could still carry the day.
The final minutes reverted to the night’s mantra: “Don’t split the vote.”
The post ‘Don’t split the vote’ – APNU’s last pitch of apologies, big pledges & a plea for unity appeared first on News Room Guyana.
