GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, Azruddin Mohamed, has been elected unopposed as Leader of the Opposition in Guyana. The election took place on Monday after members of the private media were prevented from attending the vote.
Mohamed was the sole candidate nominated for the position, which had been vacant since the September regional and general elections, which returned the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to office.
WIN won the second largest number of seats in the 65-member parliament. The leader of the minority opposition, Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), Amanza Walton-Desir, who had threatened to boycott Monday’s 2026 national budget presentation, if an opposition leader is not selected by that time, cast her ballot for Mohamed along with the 16 WIN members.
The coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which won 12 seats, did not participate in the election process.
The ruling PPP/C had publicly stated that it opposes Mohamed’s election because he is wanted in the United States on fraud and related charges.
“The party of Cheddi Jagan is proud to say that it has opposed and it stands in opposition to such a person being elevated to that high post,” Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, said.
“It is an indictment on our country, an indictment on the English-speaking Caribbean, for a US-sanctioned person, a fugitive offender, a person indicted by a jury in the United States of America for several international financial crimes, and whose extradition is being sought, to become the Leader of the Opposition of our country, possibly,” he said.
Nandlall said such a development would also be an indictment on Guyana’s parliamentary system, the Constitution, and potentially the wider Commonwealth, adding, “we are making history for all the wrong reasons,” Nandlall said.
Mohamed, along with his billionaire businessman father, Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed, was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for allegedly smuggling more than 10,000 kilogrammes of gold worth more than US$50 million and, in the process, failing to pay the relevant taxes to the Guyana government.
Last October, a US Federal Grand Jury unsealed an 11-count indictment on the Mohameds for alleged wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering. Subsequently, the US requested his extradition to face trial for those alleged crimes.
Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman has set February 5 for the continuation of extradition committal hearings. The Mohameds are also challenging the validity of the extradition request in two separate civil cases in the High Court.
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