Friday, 13 March 2009

When counting was finally concluded on Friday morning, the United Progressive Party (UPP) had retained the government with a reduced majority. The UPP won 9 seats with the opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) winning 7 seats. The UPP-aligned Barbuda People's Movement (BPM) retained the Barbuda seat.

Prime Minister and political leader of the UPP, Baldwin Spencer retained his seat in St. John's Rural West; while Leader of the ALP, Lester Bird reversed his fortunes of the 2004 election by defeating Errol Cort in St. John's Rural East.

Elston Adams, one of the early winners of the night, retained his St. Paul seat for UPP after extending his lead in final boxes.

Harold Lovell beat Ronald Maginley to retain his St. John City East seat for the UPP, while Hilston Baptiste (UPP) did the same in St. Mary South where he won by 319 votes from Samantha Marshal (ALP) and Glentis Goodwin (OND).

Wilmoth Daniel (UPP) retained seat in St. Philip South, while Robin Yearwood of the ALP wins the St. Philip North seat.

Chester Hugest won in All Saints East and St. Luke and Chanlah Codrington won in All Saints West, both from the UPP.

John Maginley won the St. John's Rural North and Jacqui Quin Leando  defeated ALP's Dean Jonas in St. George.

Steadroy Cutie Benjamin retained the St. John's City South for seat ALP by 185 (an increased margin from 2004). Gaston Browne won St. John's City West and Asot Michael won in St. Peter by a convincing margin.

In a closely contested race incumbent Minister Bertrand Joseph (UPP) lost his St. Mary's North seat to Molwyn Joseph by 18 votes. Also losing his seat was Winston Williams, in St. John's Rural South to ALP's Eustace Lake.

Trevor Walker retained the seat for Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM) with thinnest of margins - a single vote.

Antiguans and Barbudans turned up in their numbers from as early as 5:45 a.m. on Thursday morning only to find polling stations across the country still closed. Reports reaching CaribbeanElections.com indicated that this late opening was due to technical difficulties. All polling stations were opened just after 12:00 noon. Any elector in line by 6:00 pm was allowed to vote. Voting took place at 151 polling stations situated in the 48 polling districts across Antigua and Barbuda. There are over 50,000 registered electors in the twin-island state. In 2004, a record 91.2% of the electorate cast their ballots.

Thursday's poll saw voters deciding whether to re-elect the United Progressive Party (UPP) led by the incumbent Baldwin Spencer for a second term or allow the opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) led by Lester Bird to return to office. The UPP gained power in 2004, by winning 12 of the 17 seats, after the ALP had dominated the political landscape for decades.

A total of 42 candidates contested seats in the General Elections. Both the UPP and the ALP nominated candidates in all 16 constituencies on Antigua, while the ALP and the UPP-aligned Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM) put forward candidates to vie for the lone seat on the sister island. The fledgling Organisation for National Development (OND), contesting its first general election, nominated four candidates while there were also four independent candidates.

International observers from Organisation of American States (OAS), the Commonwealth and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are in Antigua and Barbuda to monitor the poll. The observers were guaranteed access to all polling stations and other locations on Election Day.

Observer groups are asked to report on the credibility of the electoral process, whether the conditions exist for a free expression of will by the electors and if the election results reflect the wishes of the people.

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Several field and online reporters have contributed to this report.

CaribbeanElections.com
The Election Portal of the Caribbean