By Bert Wilkinson
The habit of governments
calling snap general elections
in the region appears to be
in the air with authorities in
Antigua giving every indication
they could follow the lead
of the Barbados Labor Party
(BLP) and head to the polls this
year with more than a year left
in the 60-month term.
Just this week, Antiguan
Prime Minister, Gaston Browne
erased any doubts about a 2023
contest by ordering his ministers,
senators and other high
officials to step up their game,
go into communities, fix any
and all problems and be ready
to battle the main opposition
United Progressive Party (UPP)
this year.
Browne had in recent months
been giving very strong signals
to the twin island nation
with Barbuda that he intends
to fight the UPP for a second
consecutive term, even bragging
on a radio program that
he will win all 17 seats this
time around, mimicking Mia
Mottley’s BLP in Barbados and
Keith Mitchell’s New National
Party (NNP) in Grenada. The
Antigua and Barbuda Labor
Party (ABLP) won 15 of the 17
seats in 2018.
Brown’s comments came
less than a week after the UPP,
apparently learning from the
problems Barbados’ Labor
Party (DLP) experienced when
Mottley dropped the election
bombshell on them, decided
to be ready and launched its
campaign late last week. The
Barbados polls were held on
Jan. 16 with a mere three weeks
of campaigning. For the second
time in a row, the BLP won all
30 seats, leaving the future of
the DLP in doubt with its second
wipeout.
Prime ministerial candidate
and former finance and foreign
minister, Harold Lovell said he
wanted the UPP to be ready and
not be caught off guard even
as political pundits warn the
party about using up too much
political energy and ammunition
too early.
Commentator Carlon Knight
told the Observer that the party
might be correct to get its act
together now rather than be
caught napping.
“I think that certainly what
we are seeing is a party that
is clear that it will not be
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caught with its pants down
like the last time where they
were scrambling to get people
in place, scrambling to get an
election campaign mobilized,
scrambling to put all the pieces
together because the prime
minister called a snap election,
for which it was clear in the
eyes of the ordinary public that
they were not ready,” he said.
Speaking on another radio
program, PM Browne moved
to marshal his troops, telling
them to complete tasks and
attend to constituents.
“This year is, in essence, an
election year and we have to up
the ante. Ministers, senators,
all of us, should be literally
scurrying the entire political
landscape looking at the various
issues and responding to
the issues and do so robustly.”
He wants the electorate to
properly examine the ABLP’s
track record over the past four
years.
As the twin island awaits
a formal announcement, civil
servants are gearing up to take
industrial action against the
administration in a bitter row
over unpaid time remuneration.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne. Gov’t
of Antigua and Barbuda
In response, the government
says it will buy and reopen
the trendy Jolly Harbor
Beach Resort that had been
closed since the March 2020
pandemic as workers, demanding
severance pay and other
emoluments, are preparing for
street protests. Severed workers
will be rehired when the
resort resumes service.
“The government is systematically
moving to reduce
the monies we owe to these
groups of workers. We do not
want to make the obvious point
that revenues fell dramatically
during the Covid. Now we are
rebounding and we are slowly
prioritizing different workers,”
Junior Finance Minister Lennox
Weston said.
Antiguans prepare for snap vote
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