On Tuesday, 18 August 2026, Guyana’s Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed confirmed that he has submitted three names for appointment to the constitutionally mandated Local Government Commission (LGC), following closed-door consultations with leadership from the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM).
The three nominees include two members of Mohamed’s own party, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) — Leola Narine and Leslyn Lowe — alongside Nicholas Chesney, the representative selected from the smaller FGM. Sources familiar with the internal selection process told Demerara Waves Online News that APNU had put forward its own candidates Joan Romascindo and Ronald Daniels for the vacancies, but Mohamed ultimately opted to allocate two of the three opposition slots to WIN, which currently holds the status of Guyana’s largest parliamentary opposition bloc.
The selection outcome comes amid open tensions between WIN and APNU, two major opposition factions that have been locked in a dispute over representation on key national oversight bodies. WIN has repeatedly called for the three APNU-aligned incumbent commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to step down, arguing that the party is now entitled to fill those opposition positions after securing 16 parliamentary seats in the most recent election. APNU currently holds 12 seats, while FGM holds one.
Mohamed also outlined the timeline of the consultation process to reporters, noting that WIN received formal requests for consultation on three separate constitutional commissions — the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Public Service Commission (PSC), and LGC — from Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira on 24 July 2026.
In a departure from the partisan friction over the LGC, Mohamed confirmed that WIN has chosen not to raise objections to President Irfaan Ali’s nominees for the other two vacancies. For the JSC, President Ali has tapped former Chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh, while the President’s PSC nominees are Maurice Gajadhar, Melcita Bovell, and Leila Ramson. Mohamed stated that he saw no strategic or procedural reason to block the President’s picks, pointing out that the government retains the final authority to advance its preferred candidates regardless of opposition pushback.