By Robert Andre Emmanuel
[email protected]
The Member of Parliament (MP) for All Saints West, Anthony Smith Jr, expressed confidence in defending his seat from his new presumptive election challenger and former United Progressive Party (UPP) caretaker for the constituency, Lamin Newton.
On Friday evening, the Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) selected Lamin Newton as the caretaker for All Saints West constituency, overcoming his primary challengers of Regis Burton and Arry Simon.
Newton received 157 votes while Burton had 142 votes and Simon 60 votes.
Although the ABLP primary rules stated a person must receive 50 percent plus 1 of the total votes cast in the primary to be declared the outright winner, Newton’s vote count meant he was ultimately declared the winner by the party executive.
It is expected that on Friday, March 22, the ABLP’s Executive Committee will ratify Newton to the caretaker position.
Meanwhile, MP Smith, who also spoke to Observer media over the weekend, congratulated Newton on his primary victory but expressed confidence in defeating whomever was chosen as an ABLP candidate because of what he said were the administration’s harmful policies.
“I want to first congratulate [Lamin] Newton on his win; however, it doesn’t matter whether it was Newton, Regis Burton, or Arry Simon, because they’re all the same to me.
“To want to run under an Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party banner when currently this banner is ‘killing’ the people of Antigua and Barbuda; these guys sit and they say nothing while Gaston and his government continue to suffocate the people of this country,” Smith said.
Newton resigned from the UPP in 2020, stating that he could not support the party any longer in its configuration at the time.
Just like Senator Dwayne George who joined the ABLP following a falling out with the UPP leadership to compete against St Mary’s South MP Kelvin Simon, Newton will face off against his former party members and supporters.
MP Smith reiterated that the silence on government policies from his opponent which Smith believed has negatively impacted people and the community.
“We’ve seen high increases in taxes without accountability of the people’s money and my three opponents have said nothing about this … the roads are atrocious in our constituency, we have had rubbish not constantly being collected, bushes overgrown all over in the constituency and in the country, and again, my opponents have nothing to say about the government’s poor performance,” Smith claimed.
MP Smith emerged victorious in the 2023 general elections, defeating then incumbent Michael Browne by over 600 votes and the Democratic National Alliance’s Anthony Stuart by almost 2,000 votes.
Smith said that his work in the constituency since becoming the representative places him in good stead for the 2028 general election.
“To the people of All Saints West, we must not forget that on January 18, 2023, the people made the right choice, and [made] the first step in saving our constituency and in saving our great country.
“I am someone who is committed to my people, committed to my constituency and committed to my country and I will continue to work hard and to advocate for the people of All Saints West,” Smith expressed.