Former Ms A&B to run against senator’s sibling for Barbuda Council seat

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Former Miss Antigua & Barbuda, Asha Frank is expected to come up against Andre Lee, the brother of Senator Adrian Lee, in the Barbuda Council by-election on Monday, March 27.
The by-election is being held to fill the seat left vacant by Salim Cephas of the Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM) who has left to study medicine in Cuba.
The two must be officially nominated today.
Frank refused an interview with OBSERVER media until her nomination has been confirmed, but BPM Political Leader Trevor Walker confirmed that she won the party’s primary.
“The former queen of Antigua & Barbuda, Ms Asha Frank, she has been selected last night to be our candidate for the 27th March election in the by-election, and so she will be the one contesting on the BPM ticket,” Walker said.
“We had a party meeting and there were several persons who showed interest in running for the party and Ms Frank also showed interest in that and actually wrote to us indicating she would want to get into the political arena and represent her country. She delivered a very immaculate speech and all the other persons who had interest withdrew their nominations and supported Asha Frank to contest that particular election,” Walker explained.
Frank’s father, Mackenzie Frank is the current General Secretary of the BPM.
Andre Lee is expected to be the official nominee of the Antigua & Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) for the by-election. Attempts to reach Lee for an interview were unsuccessful up to press time.
The Antigua & Barbuda Electoral Commission is also accepting nominations, today, from both parties for the five other seats up for grabs as part of regular council elections on Monday, March 27, 2017.
As the by-election, will take place alongside the regular elections, the Supervisor of Elections, Lorna Simon said measures will be in place to ensure there is no confusion on voting day.
“There are two separate ballot boxes and they look different. You will get one ballot at first, you mark the five names and place it in the box. It’s just a means of avoiding confusion among the voter’s mind,” said Simon.
Simon said those selected to work with the elections will be trained during the week of March 20.
“The returning officer and senior members of my staff will go across and training will be done and then the presiding officers and poll clerks will be selected. We will be using four polling stations as has been done in previous elections. In addition, we will have two persons on the outside as information clerks so when persons go to the polling station they can check to verify their name is on the register and they will be directed to the polling station pertaining to their surname,” Simon explained.
Simon said that Barbudans registered up to January 31 will be eligible to vote.
The BPM’s full slate of candidates is Asha Frank, Kendra Beazer, Jackie Frank, Nadia John George, Fabian Jones and Wayde Burton. The ABLP’s candidates are Andre Lee, Makeisha Desouza, Senator Knacynta Nedd, Neil Gore, David Shaw and Calvin Gore.
Of the six elected seats coming up for retirement, four of them belong to the ABLP and two to the BPM.
The Barbuda Council consists of nine elected seats, half of which are contested every two years and two ex-officio seats, one held by the Member of Parliament for Barbuda and the other by an appointed senator.

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