BRADES, Montserrat, CMC – Former premier Reuben Meade led his newly formed United Alliance (UA) to victory in the general elections here on Monday, according to the preliminary figures released by the Montserrat Electoral Commission during the early hours on Friday morning.
It said that the UA had won five of the nine seats in the Legislative Assembly, followed by the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) with three seats and the incumbent Movement for Change and Prosperity (CMAP) winning one seat.
The election saw the defeat of the outgoing premier, Easton Taylor-Farrell, the recently appointed MCAP leader, Dr Samuel Joseph, and a former speaker of the parliament, Osborne Shirley.
MCAP’s sole winner is the outgoing agriculture minister, while former premier Donaldson Romeo, who ran as an independent in the 2019 general election, is one of three successful PDM candidates.
While 3,464 voters were eligible to cast ballots in the election for the “one constituency” Montserrat has become following the destruction caused by the volcano, which last erupted in 2013, each voter was allowed to cast nine ballots.
“We will govern for the people of Montserrat, and we will behave that way,” said Meade, 70. In January, when he announced his return to active politics, he said it had “nothing to do with ego, image or legacy, but everything to do with service to the people.”
Meade, who served as the island’s first premier between 2010 and 2014 and also served as chief minister of this British overseas territory on two occasions between 1991 and 2010, said now was the time for everyone to get together and move the island forward.
“This is where I urge all of us. We cannot progress this country if we are not going to work hard to progress it, and this goes for civil servants as well. Let us work together when we ask for timelines to be met, and let us meet the timelines.
“Let us not have the British governments say we don’t have the capacity in Montserrat. We must show them that we do have the capacity in this country. Suppose we don’t have it in this country. In that case, we can find it from out Montserratians from overseas who can come in and provide us with the assistance,” said Meade, an economist, who had also worked at the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
He said the swearing ceremony, likely to occur later on Friday, “will not be behind closed doors in the Governor’s Office.
“It will be a public swearing ceremony, and our supporters and the people of this country can attend and witness it.
“The amount of abuse we have taken is possibly one of the reasons why you saw in the count that John Osborne (UA candidate) has been toggling between his position and my position because people have felt that John, being the youngest person on this team might have a position they thought he should not have.
“I can assure you John is ready for that position. Whatever that position is, John is ready for that position. I am not going to say what it is,” he added.
Earlier, Taylor-Farrell said that he was “calm and relaxed” and prepared for the election outcome, adding that he was also confident that during his five-year stint, his administration had started a process for Montserrat development.
“My job is to see the people of Montserrat prosper,” he added.
Political observers note that MCAP had suffered the same fate as previous administrations in the past 28 years when no incumbent government was given a second consecutive term in office.
Meanwhile, Meade said that while he is “not yet in a position to legally declare” Friday a public holiday, he was nonetheless informing public servants and private sector workers, “You have been up all night, way into the morning, listening to the counts. Call your boss and say sorry. We are not coming into work.”
“I don’t have the legal authority to say otherwise. Perhaps we will have that on another day, but we will make up for it,” Meade added.
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