Prime Minister Gaston Browne Monday night announced January 18, 2023 as the date for the general election in Antigua and Barbuda and urged supporters to ensure that his government is returned to power.
He said Nomination Day will be December 28.
Browne speaking at the launch of candidates for the ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) said he had already asked the governor general to issue the writs for the poll on Tuesday.
“Last Friday, I dispatched a letter to His Excellency, Sir Rodney Williams asking him to dissolve the Parliament. The Parliament had been duly dissolved.
“I have also asked our governor general to issue the writs of elections tomorrow 20th December 2022. Nomination Day will follow on December 28, 2022 and you can be assured that when the next general elections are held, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth in the UPP (United Progressive Party) and that day will be in January 18, 2023,” Bowne told supporters.
General election was last held March 21, 2018, with Browne’s ABLP winning 15 of the 17 seats. The main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) and the Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM) won the other two seats.
The island had been on pre-election campaign mode ever since Prime Minister Browne told voters that the country is “months away” from the next general election, even as the main opposition UPP called on him to immediately announce an election date.
“We continue to count on you the people of Antigua and Barbuda. You are the wings behind our sails, pushing us into success and we will continue to respect you and to work for your development because that is the core of our being,” Browne told supporters on Monday night.
“We are here to serve…and we ask you for your continued support. We are not going to assume that we have it. We humbly ask for your continued support and I beg you my counter men and country women not to become complacent and to allow for any retrogression.
“The next level of development requires continuity; in other words you don’t want a new set of people to come in and destroy the progress that we have made. You can’t allow that,” he said.
During his address, Gaston Browne outlined what he said were the seminal successes of his administration over the eight and a half years it has been in office, including spending millions of dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) in improving the country’s infrastructure, promising a slew of new projects in the new year.
CMC/
