ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Prime Minister Gaston Browne has been re-elected leader of the ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labor Party (ABLP), promising to build on the socio-economic policies of the past years as it gears up for the April 30 general election.
Browne, addressing a convention of the party held on Sunday, in which he was re-elected, said: “This convention is not just an ordinary convention; this is a defining moment for the country and a defining moment for the executive members and delegates attending the convention to re-commit to the values of the organization”.
He said that the ABLP is also using the convention to finalize plans for the general elections.
Browne, who is seeking his fourth consecutive term as head of government, said the election, which he called nearly two years ahead of the constitutional deadline, is one in which ABLP’s experience in steering Antigua and Barbuda through troubled times to emerge as a progressive state in the Caribbean will be tested.
He praised the efforts of the former party executives, including Sir V.C. Bird, considered the “Father of the Nation,” saying they laid a solid foundation and demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing the well-being of ordinary men and women in Antigua and Barbuda.
“It’s not about status or individualism; the ABLP has always been about people. It’s a mass movement created to protect and promote the interests of working-class people and, in general, all people of our nation.
“An institution led by competent, committed, and courageous leaders. There’s no doubt that Sir Vere and Sir Lester were courageous leaders. All who have led this institution and have served in the various ministries of government have been and continue to be courageous leaders,” Browne told the convention, adding that same courage calls on the current leaders to be courageous to lift ordinary people out of poverty to extraordinary possibilities.
“Today, that same courage calls on us to continue to fight for the working class people; to fight to protect the renaissance that we have created,” Browne added.
Foreign Affairs Minister E.P. Chet Greene, the party’s chairman, also made a strong case for the party to be re-elected to office at the end of the month.
Greene told the convention that the state of unrest in the international sphere calls for steady, experienced leadership at the highest levels of the country’s power.
“We stand here with clear eyes. Because the world is changing, and it is not changing for the better. It is becoming more uncertain. More unstable. More dangerous. Wars are driving up prices. Supply chains are under strain. Tourism is exposed. Small states are vulnerable,” he added.
Greene said that under these circumstances, the electorate of Antigua and Barbuda must be intentional in their voting,
“It cannot be handed over to inexperience. It cannot be risked on those who have already shown us what their failure looks like. We have seen that path. We have lived that path. And we will not return to it! Instead, we choose prog ress. We choose stability. We choose advancement, we choose the Renaissance!” Greene told supporters.
He said the party will release its 2026 election manifesto on Friday, providing further details of its plans and objectives for the next five years.
In the last general election, held on January 18, 2023, the ABLP won nine of the 17 seats, with the remaining seats going to the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) and a lone independent candidate.
and then , promising to build){kind=link}