Caption: Azruddin Mohamed, standing, during the first sitting of the National Assembly
GEORGETOWN –The main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party Tuesday gave the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, a 14-day deadline to convene a meeting of the Assembly in order to elect an opposition leader.
WIN emerged as the party with the second highest number of seats in the 72-member Assembly following the September 1 regional and general election, displacing the opposition grouping, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
According to a letter sent by attorney Siand Dhurjon, the 16 WIN legislators said that there is nothing stopping the Speaker, who was re-elected to the post at th first sitting of the parliament on November 3, from convening a meeting of the opposition members to elect a Leader of the Opposition, which is a Constitutional position.
“It should be noted that there was no impediment to your convening such meeting on 3rd November 2025 as all of the non-governmental Members of Parliament were present at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre and lingered long after the sitting in the building for political and social purposes,” Dhurjon wrote.
In a statement, WIN questioned the “prolonged delay” in the election of an opposition leader, adding that “the Speaker’s prolonged failure to convene the meeting is deeply troubling and strikes at the very foundations of our democratic system.
“Moreover, if one compares this to the swearing-in of the President, a glaring double standard emerges. The President was sworn in promptly after the declaration from the Guyana Elections Commission, mere days after the September 1 Regional and General Elections, yet there is now a delay in recognizing the Leader of the Opposition, a constitutionally mandated role that is just as vital to the balance of power. This discrepancy raises serious concerns about accountability and respect for the Constitution.”
WIN said that the Speaker’s ongoing failure to convene the mandatory meeting required for this appointment is unprecedented.
“In the Westminster system we practise, the Office of the Leader of the Opposition is a fundamental pillar of parliamentary democracy, essential for oversight and accountability.
In previous parliamentary cycles, this process was completed within days of the new Parliament being sworn in,” the recetly formed party added.
WIN said that on November 3, immediately following the reconvening of the Parliament and “mere seconds after the adjournment was called, the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party submitted a formal letter to the Speaker, signed by all of its parliamentarians, designating their nominee for the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.
“There was however, no response to the letter, nor any formal acknowledgement of receipt from the Speaker. On November 10, 2025, a follow-up email was sent, also without any acknowledgment, and November 17, 2025, a third request has been submitted. Yet there has been no indication that the Speaker intends to fulfil this constitutional responsibility.”
“Guyanese deserve to know why this constitutional requirement is being sidelined in a manner never before seen in recent parliamentary history,” said the party, whose leader, Azruddin Mohamed, is the party’s nominee for the position.
Mohamed and his billionaire businessman father, Nazar Mohamed, were arrested and granted GUY$150,000 (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) bail last month soon after the United States formally sent an extradition request to Guyana.
The 38-year-old politician along with his father, are the subject of an indictment unsealed on October 6, 2025, by a United States Grand Jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida, which charges them with multiple offences including wire fraud, mail fraud, money-laundering, conspiracy, aiding and abetting and customs-related violations connected to an alleged US$50 million gold export and tax evasion scheme.
The indictment alleges that between 2017 and June 2024, the accused conspired to defraud the Guyana government by evading export taxes and royalties on over 10,000 kilograms of gold, using falsified customs declarations and re-used export seals to disguise unpaid duties. The indictment further references the attempted shipment of US$5.3 million in undeclared gold seized at Miami International Airport, and the alleged under-invoicing of a luxury vehicle valued at over US$680,000.
According to the indictment, the alleged fraudulent scheme operated “from in or about 2017” through June 2024. (CMC)
