Antigua’s PM hints at early election
By
Mell P
|
on
June 17, 2020
Gaston Browne
St. John’s – Prime Minister Gaston Browne has hinted that the general elections, constitutionally due in 2023, could be held “as early as November next year” as he reacted to the decision by the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) Monday to name its first four candidates for the next election.
Predicting that his ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) would improve on the 15 of the 17 seats it won in the 2018 snap election, Browne said that it would sweep all the seats.
Browne, writing on his Facebook page, said that UPP leader Harold Lovell, who failed to win his seat in the 2018 poll, is a “perpetual loser . . . not attractive to winners”.
If Browne calls the election in November next year, it will be the second consecutive occasion that voters here will go to the polls ahead of the constitutional deadline.
The last election on March 21, 2018, came 15 months before the polls were constitutionally due and the ABLP increased its majority by one seat, while the UPP was only able to win one seat.
