By: Staff Writer
January 6, 2023
The Antigua and Barbuda general election is set for January 18, 2023 and thus far Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s led Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) is galloping ahead of everyone else.
The Opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) is already at a deficit, only having one seat in the parliament, running with the same leader who lost his seat in the 2018 general election in that of Harold Lovell. The UPP has also joined forces with the Barbuda People’s Movement who also holds a seat in parliament for the island of Barbuda.
The only seat held by the UPP is the Leader of the Opposition Jamale L. Pringle who holds the All Saints East & St. Luke seat. If the UPP is not careful, they may lose this seat too and it would be a full scale sweep in Antigua at least. Prime Minister Browne said in earlier communications that he wants all 17 of the seats in parliament, including Barbuda.
The Democratic National Alliance, the other party in the race, has nominated 16 candidates to contest the 17 seat parliament this coming January 18. The party is led by Joanne Massiah and formed in 2017, but it appears to not have much traction on the ground.
The Gaston Brown ABLP administration has weathered the storm, insiders tell Caribbean Magazine Plus. They have kept the country afloat during the worst pandemic in modern history, kept people employed while at the same time attracting investments into the country.
The country has also invited the University of the West Indies to set up a campus and has committed to funding its expansion.
Mr Browne has also stuck his neck out for LIAT Ltd, also known as Leeward Islands Air Transport Services and operating as LIAT and which he was a former board member. LIAT is a regional airline headquartered in Antigua and Barbuda that operated high-frequency inter-island scheduled services to 15 destinations in the Caribbean. The company collapsed in 2020 after a liquidation it was resurrected as a new company, still offering flights throughout the Caribbean.
Would voters remember all of this and does this mean anything to them in the grand scheme of things will be the question. Mr Browne has covered his bases as well as he gave civil servants double their salary this past Christmas right before he called the general election.
With money in people’s pockets it is a assumed that this will bode well in Browne’s favour on election day. But time will tell.