One Barbuda councilman retires as another switches sides

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A spokesman for the Antigua & Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) has called the decisions of Barbudan Senator Adrian Lee not to contest upcoming Barbuda Council elections, an “honourable move” but has assured that no pressure was exerted to have him step aside.

The government’s Chief of Staff Lionel “Max” Hurst told OBSERVER media that Lee’s decision was based solely on his own assessment of his chances at re-election.

“We said that it would be up to him whether his chance at re-election would be affected, and he has determined that it would be. And therefore he has withdrawn his name.  That is reasonable and that’s exactly what we thought would happen,” Hurst said.

In October, the senator was charged with larceny, wounding, being armed with an offensive weapon, battery on a police officer, and resisting arrest after a reported scuffle with former Barbudan senator 71-year-old Lynton Thomas.

The news comes as the ABLP and the opposition Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM) prepare for council elections some time in March.

While the BPM is withholding its slate of candidates of “nine or ten” for its primary, until Sunday, it has revealed that disgruntled ABLP councilman Bernhardt “Bernie” Newton, who is not among the ABLP’s slate of candidates for the upcoming election, is ready to cross the aisle.

More in today’s Daily Observer.

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