ST. JOHN’S, Antigua (December 28, 2023)—Sixteen United Progressive Party (UPP) candidates on Wednesday completed the nomination process in anticipation of elections due on January 18, 2023.
Exuberant supporters clad in blue and yellow—the colours synonymous with the main opposition party—punctuated the process. Party faithful marched with their respective candidates to the various stations across the island. They all pushed the party mantra that “red is dead” and that the self-styled “Redeem Team” is ready to lead.
Jamale Pringle, who served as Opposition Leader during the last session of parliament, is the only incumbent on the UPP ticket. He was, once again, nominated to represent the party stronghold of All Saints East & St Luke.
Confident that the electorate will send him back to Parliament, he expressed his belief that the work he has done in the constituency was enough to win him favour within the constituency for the past four years.
UPP Leader Harold Lovell was equally confident when he paraded through the streets of Gambles en route to the nomination station at Princess Margaret School. Surrounded by dozens of supporters, he danced and cheered as the crowd sang Go Lovell, set to the tune of the popular soca song Go Claudette by Claudette “CP” Peters.
Lovell, who is contesting the St John’s City East seat for the eighth consecutive time (his seventh on the UPP ticket), said he and his party are better prepared to face the electorate.
“We are satisfied that wherever I may have lost favour in the past, we have been able to rebuild that trust and the love,” Lovell said. He said the electorate can expect intense pressure as the party races to the January 18 finish line.
Though confident in his party’s chances, Lovell stopped short of projecting seats he felt the party would win. “We wouldn’t do that, but we’re satisfied that we’ll continue to do the work. We will continue to engage with the people of Antigua and Barbuda and the people in this constituency, touching them on the issues that matter to them, and that’s what we’re all about,” Lovell said.
Various UPP candidates shared concerns about water, infrastructure, the cost of living and governance in general. Many party newcomers have placed these issues at the centre of their campaigns.
“The infrastructure, roads, the fact that people are crying out for the water and, most of all, accessibility (to the sitting Member of Parliament),” first-time candidate for St John’s Rural East Sean Bird told Dadli Media Pop Up (DM) when questioned about the challenges in the constituency.
Other candidates, like Kelvin Simon, also a political newcomer, complained about social issues that have plagued the St Mary’s South constituency.
“Parents sometimes don’t really play the role that they should,” he said. “One of my plans is to get the family more together, more integrated.” This, Simon said, includes more activities for father-son and mother-daughter bonding that would foster deeper relationships.
Other candidates cited the controversial YIDA development, failed hotel projects and the controversial multimillion dollar development in Barbuda as other causes for concern.
Following their nominations, the UPP candidates and their supporters rallied at the Rising Sun Grounds.
The current and former political leaders were among those addressing the scores of party faithful.
“From east to west, north to south, the United Progressive Party, we were there to nominate our candidates,” Lovell said in a charge to his candidates over a public address system mounted on a vehicle. “Only victory will be acceptable. We need to get into the trenches from this afternoon. Don’t allow them to distract you. You need to concentrate on the job at hand. The job at hand is to engage all the voters in Antigua and Barbuda.”
Former Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer was also in the thick of things, urging supporters to back the candidates. “We have to ensure that we do what we have to do, not only for our individual selves and our respective communities, but for the nation of Antigua and Barbuda,” Spencer said in a brief address to the crowd. “What we have to do is to make sure that we turn out in tremendous numbers throughout Antigua and Barbuda and support the candidates of the United Progressive Party to ensure that we bring a day, we bring a new dawn, we bring redemption, we rescue our country from the vagabonds of the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party.”
