By Robert Andre Emmanuel
Whether to go to a primary run-off, declare Lamin Newton as the outright winner, or find a compromise to resolve the results of last week’s primary in All Saints West, will be a key talking point for the executive of the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) today.
On Friday, confusion arose when none of the political candidates—Regis Burton, Lamin Newton and Arry Simon—received over fifty percent of the total votes cast, leading to the Party having to declare the next day that it was choosing Lamin Newton as Party representative for the area, as he received the most votes.
However, in a letter to the ABLP executive, Regis Burton decried many irregularities with the primary process, and highlighted an agreement signed between the primary challengers, which had a provision for a run-off to be held in this scenario.
While there are some Party supporters who believe that Burton has a case in his application to the ABLP executive, there have been some Party leaders, including Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who seemed to have already begun to treat Newton as the Party caretaker for All Saints West.
Lamin Newton, for his part, has suggested that he will not be participating in any primary run-off as he seeks to bring the Party together in an effort to overthrow the United Progressive Party’s MP Anthony Smith Jr.
Chairman of the Antigua Barbuda Labour Party, E P Chet Greene, told Observer media that while he does not wish to prejudice the discussions to be held today, he said that he was “sure that the decision will not be without the inclusion of both comrades.”
Newton was a former UPP caretaker for the All Saints West constituency until a few years ago when he left, on acrimonious terms with the Party’s leadership.
