Antigua's ruling party holds on to win third consecutive victory

ST JOHN'S, Antigua, CMC – Prime Minister Gaston Browne led his ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) to a nail-biting victory in Wednesday's general election, winning nine of the 17 seats for a third consecutive term in office, according to the preliminary results released early Thursday morning.

The party had won 15 of the 17 seats in the 2018 general election.

“You know I have always said to people, you must always give thanks, no matter how small the blessing and I see this decision as a blessing upon the people of Antigua and Barbuda,” Prime Minister Browne told supporters.

He said the results will give the ABLP government the opportunity to re-align “and also create the opportunity for fresh talent.

“Truth be told, whenever you try to remove incumbents it is very difficult. So when you remove incumbents then it creates the space you could bring in new talent to the organisation, to the government.

“So we do not see this as a bad thing per say, we see it as an opportunity at the same time. However, I want to thank those of my colleagues who would have served this country well over the last eight and a half years and of course we will continue to stand by them, so we will not leave them out in the cold,” Browne told supporters.

Prime Minister Browne, who became the first government leader in Antigua to win three consecutive general elections, headed the victorious ABLP candidates, as the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) won five additional seats compared to the solitary seat it had gained in the 2018 general election.

Browne polled 1,295 votes against 621 for Alister Thomas of the UPP and Jamel Knight of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) to win the St John's City West seat.

“I want to thank you all very much …I say thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart. I feel humbled, again to be the first Prime Minister to get three consecutive terms and that is a significant amount of confidence and trust which I shall continue to honour,” Browne told supporters, adding that he would be sworn into office later on Thursday morning at 10.30 (local time) and the cabinet named on Friday.

Browne said he had signalled to his party that it needed fresh legs and new talent.

“Truth be told after two terms some ministers become lethargic. They do not have the will to fight,” he said, adding that some of “our colleagues did not have the energy to mobilise, you could have seen it at our events, it is something the leadership discussed…" he said.

The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) failed to make any impact in the election with its leader, Joanne Massiah polling only 22 votes.

UPP leader Harold Lovell, failed to win the City East seat for a third consecutive time as Information Minister Melford Nicholas held on to win by six votes.

On the sister isle of Barbuda, the Barbuda People's Movement (BPM), retained the seat with the incumbent, Trevor Walker, comfortably winning against Knacyntar Nedd of the ABLP, according to preliminary results released here on Tuesday.

Among the casualties of the election were Works Minister Lennox Weston, Samantha Marshall, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Barbuda Affairs, Michael Browne, Minister of the Creative Industries and Innovation and Dean Jonas, the Minister of Social Transformation, Human Resource Development and the Blue Economy.

Jamaica based pollster, Don Anderson, who had conducted several opinion polls prior to the general election, said while the UPP “will do much better than they did in 2018,” it failed to drive home the issues during the campaign.

“The shift we are seeing is a vital one,” Anderson said on a radio programme, noting however that the shift was not sufficient to drive the UPP home “because they started too far behind”.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.