US diplomat wants post of opposition leader filled in Guyana

United States Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, says the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country needs to have in place an opposition leader based on the results of the September 1 general and regional elections that resulted in the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) being returned to office.

The newly formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) headed by Azruddin Mohamed, emerged as the second party in the new parliament with the most seats, overtaking the position that had been occupied by the coalition A Partnership for  National Unity (APNU).

Over the weekend, President Irfaan Ali described as “absolutely ridiculous” suggestions in some quarters that his government has not been calling sittings of the National Assembly to avoid the election of Mohamed as the main opposition leader.

“Absolutely ridiculous! The opposition can elect whoever they want as Opposition Leader so it’s absolutely ridiculous. That’s their business. We have no business in the opposition electing whoever they want as Leader of the Opposition,” he told reporters.

Following the September 1, 2025 general and regional elections, the National Assembly was called only once – November 3, 2025, and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, has so far not called the constitutionally required meeting of the 29 opposition parliamentarians to elect, most likely, Mohamed as Opposition Leader.

“I think it’s incredibly important that you have a functioning parliament in any democracy and in order to have that, you do need a Leader of the Opposition. It just makes things work properly,” Theriot told reporters following an event at Banks DIH on Sunday.

The US diplomat said steps should be taken to have the opposition leader in place at the earliest opportunity, adding ”I do think it’s very important for Guyana, as soon as possible, to elect a Leader of the Opposition”.

Mohamed, along with his  billionaire businessman father, Nazar “Shell” Mohamed,  are challenging their extradition to the United State where on October 30, 2025, Washington had requested the extradition of the 76 year-old businessman and his 38-year -old son after they were accused of multiple charges 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.

Their extradition committal hearing is slated to resume on February 5, 2026.

Theriot was quick to reiterate that the US would be unable to engage Mohamed politically on certain matters.

“Like I’ve said before, it complicates matters. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to deal with but what’s most important is that your democracy functions and I think in order for Parliament to do that and to represent the will of the people, who elected this person or who chose this person to have a significant number of seats or chose his party, that they need to move forward with the election.

“It doesn’t impact on us legally but if he is involved in certain aspects of government that we have to deal with; if it involves anything financial or contractual then that might be a slight problem for us and we would just have to ask that someone else work on that issue so for us we can work around it,” she said.

The US diplomat also noted that the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom have all called for the election of the opposition leader.

“I don’t think we can be more clear than that when we say it publicly. It certainly gets to the right ears,” she said when asked whether the diplomatic community has sought to persuade Guyanese authorities that the post of opposition leader should filled. (CMC)

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