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 organization, to the government.
“So we do not see this as a bad thing per se, 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 to win three consecutive general elections, headed the victorious ABLP candidates, as the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) won five additional seats as compared to the solitary seat it had gained in the 2018 general election.
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.
Preliminary figures released by the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC) showed that Nicholas, who has defeated the former finance minister on all three occasions, polled 791 votes while Lovell received 785. Leon Smith of the DNA got 13 votes.
In the last general election, Lovell lost by 153 votes. He has since called for a recount.
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.
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.
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