Opposition Parliamentarian Ganesh Mahipaul has admitted that he did not anticipate the scale of the 2025 election loss but says his own post-mortem may hold the answers to the APNU’s defeat and what the coalition must do next.
The election results saw a significant demotion for the APNU in parliament. While it remained in opposition, the APNU now has 12 seats in the National Assembly, down from 31 it held with the AFC in the last session.
The AFC has failed altogether to secure a single seat on its own, but three APNU MPs have returned with the newly formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN). Amanza Walton Desir is going it alone with a single seat and representing the Forward Guyana Movement – a party she started after a fallout with APNU.
“I did not see WIN coming in the way it came in with 16 seats. I did not see the PPP getting 36 seats, nor did I see APNU getting 12,” Mahipaul said in an exclusive interview with the News Room at the weekend.
Now months after the polls, he says his post-mortem of the elections is that APNU’s defeat was driven as much by internal weakness as by external forces.
Mahipaul argues that the previous 31-seat opposition bench was already unstable long before voters went to the polls.
“The 31 was fragile. This 12 is solid,” he said.
According to him, fragmentation inside APNU created the opening for WIN’s rise.
“We were reduced because of the fragmentation. We were reduced because of the in-house fighting. There wasn’t a sense of camaraderie. There wasn’t a sense of loyalty,” he said.
Instead, he said, too many individuals were focused on “self upliftment, ego and political capital.”
“And that destroyed the 31.”
He pointed to the fact that three returning MPs now sitting with WIN previously came from APNU’s side a shift he believes speaks to deeper fractures within the coalition.
“When you allow your being as an individual to consume the bigger picture, it affects the organization you’re a part of,” he said.
At the same time, he acknowledged that WIN leader Azruddin Mohamed’s philanthropic activities, including highly publicised acts of assistance to vulnerable citizens, and his ongoing troubles with the U.S law enforcement generated sympathy support.
“He showed the vulnerable that he has the ability to do philanthropy,” Mahipaul said.
“And I think that gathered some support for him.”
Mahipaul believes Mohamed’s entrance into frontline politics also heightened public attention to parliamentary proceedings.
He noted spikes in viewership during key parliamentary moments, arguing that the new political dynamic exposed both weaknesses and strengths across the spectrum.
“It amplifies the attention the country is placing on politics,” he said.
Asked to identify APNU’s single biggest mistake heading into 2025, Mahipaul did not hesitate.
“Unity,” he said. “We have to demonstrate greater unity.”
He believes visible internal division cost the coalition dearly and insists that rebuilding trust among supporters will be critical ahead of future elections.
“I think we are on that road,” he said, adding that APNU must show discipline in its approach, engage more directly with citizens and clearly distinguish itself from other opposition players.
He also pushed back against attempts to tie newer party figures to controversies from APNU’s 2015–2020 term in office which ended in aattempts to alter the results of the elections in favour of the APNU+AFC.
“Some of us are being asked to answer for things we know nothing about,” he said, noting that not all current members were part of government during that period.
Still, he acknowledged that political parties cannot selectively claim credit.
“You can’t defend the good and not take ownership of the bad,” he said.
For Mahipaul, the lesson of 2025 is that fragmentation weakens, ego divides and perception matters.
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