LANDSLIDE WIN FOR PRIME MINISTER GASTON BROWNE IN ANTIGUA & BARBUDA

A pattern which has become familiar in Caribbean elections in the past few years has been replicated in Antigua and Barbuda.

In the Eastern Caribbean country’s general election on Thursday, April 30th, the ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party(ABLP) led by returning prime minister Gaston Browne swept back to power with a landslide mandate.

Of the 17 seats in the country’s parliament, the ABLP snapped up 15, repeating a feat it performed in the 2018 election.

It’s the fourth straight win for the ABLP under Browne and a major turnaround for the party after it crawled back into office in 2023 on a nail-biting 9-8 margin after winning in a near clean sweep in 2018.

The main opposition United Progressive Party(UPP) could only hold on to one seat this time around - a dramatic drop from the six it won in the 2023 poll. The other seat, the single constituency assigned to the sister island of Barbuda, was retained by the Barbuda People’s Movement(BPM). In addition to the parties, three independent candidates who also contested the election failed to win a seat.

For the UPP, this loss is a particularly bitter pill to swallow, especially for its previous leader, Harold Lovell, who led the party in the 2023 poll. He had not only lost the election then but lost his seat as well. Returning to the political fray for this election, the former UPP finance minister (2009-2014)  suffered the same fate again. Mr Lovell’s personal loss, along with that of the UPP, is made even more humiliating as the party, which had clawed back seven seats in 2023 after winning just one in the 2018 election, now sees itself back in the same situation.

The voter turnout this year dropped to 62 per cent (39, 515), down from 67 per cent in 2023, which then was the lowest in the previous 20 years. The total registered voters this year was 63,313.

TALKING POINTS

Key themes in the campaign were economic issues - especially the cost of living, and whether nationals are adequately benefiting from jobs and other opportunities created from a surge of real estate and other infrastructural developments in the country, much of that involving Chinese investors.

The ABLP’s close ties with China, navigating relationships with the United States - including on issues surrounding Antigua and Barbuda’s Citizen by Investment(CBI) scheme, and tightened US visa policies - were also top platform issues. A spate of tourism and other real estate developments in the sister island of Barbuda also attracted attention during the campaign.

The economy of Antigua and Barbuda is heavily based on tourism.

In a victory speech, Prime Minister Browne stated: “We are here to serve all the people of Antigua and Barbuda. Education, jobs, business opportunities will be open to all who are prepared to seize them…Notwithstanding your political persuasion, this is not a time for laggards. This is a time for all of us to perform, to increase our productivity and to make sure that Antigua and Barbuda becomes one of the most productive small island states globally.”

Mr Browne also urged his supporters and the country’s citizens: “We must remain a dignified people. We must not cower to anyone. We must not be timid. We must stand tall in every forum, every regional, every international forum as Antiguans and Barbudans.”

According to the website of the government of Antigua and Barbuda, the country’s population is around 81,300, with 80,000 on the main island of Antigua and 1,300 on Barbuda. While the country’s National Bureau of Statistics recorded the population at 88,566 in the 2011 census, other reputable agencies currently have it between 100,000 and 104,000.

By Michael Jarvis London UK