General elections were held in

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign state, sovereign archipelagic country composed of Antigua, Barbuda, and List of islands of Antigua and Barbuda, numerous other small islands. Antigua and Barbuda has a total area of 440 km2 (170 sq mi), ...

on 18 January 2023 to elect members of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. The Labour Party (ABLP) has held an

absolute majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a gr ...

of 15 seats in the House of Representatives after the 2018 general election, with

Gaston Browne Gaston Alphonso Browne (born 9 February 1967) is an Antiguan politician serving as the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda and leader of the Labour Party since 2014. Before entering politics, he was a banker and businessman. Early life Brown ...

remaining as

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. Browne initiated a

constitutional referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...

after the 2018 election, which was rejected by voters, and following the

death of Elizabeth II Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, died on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. Elizabeth's reign of 70 years and 214 days was the List of monarchs in Britain by length of ...

in 2022, he announced his intention to organise a referendum for the transition of Antigua and Barbuda to a republican system. Besides ABLP, the

United Progressive Party The United Progressive Party is a political party in Antigua and Barbuda. It was previously led by Baldwin Spencer, it was the governing party from 2004 to 2014. It has been in opposition since the 2014 election. Jamale Pringle was elected lea ...

(UPP), Democratic National Alliance,

Barbuda People's Movement The Barbuda People's Movement is a left-wing Barbudan nationalist political party in Antigua and Barbuda active only on the island of Barbuda. The party's symbol is the European fallow deer, national animal of Barbuda. The party seeks the secess ...

(BPM), and three

independent politicians An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

filed candidacies for the 2023 general election. During the election campaign, UPP proposed to raise the minimum wage and expressed support for small businesses, while ABLP pledged to construct more homes and open two

polyclinics A polyclinic (where ''poly'' means "many"; not to be confused with the homonym policlinic, where ''poli'' means "city" and which is sometimes used for a hospital's outpatient department) is a clinic or health care facility that provides both ge ...

. ABLP retained its majority in the House of Representatives, although it won a reduced 9 seats, while UPP won 6 seats.

Trevor Walker Trevor Myke Walker is a Barbudan politician, current member of parliament for Barbuda, and former Cabinet Minister under the Baldwin Spencer administration. He is a member of the Barbuda People's Movement, a party that seeks the independence of ...

, the leader of the BPM, retained his seat in

Barbuda Barbuda (; ) is an island and dependency located in the eastern Caribbean forming part of the twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda as an autonomous entity. Barbuda is located approximately north of Antigua. The only settlements on the i ...

, while Asot Michael, an independent politician and former member of ABLP, won his seat in the St. Peter constituency. Browne was sworn in for his third consecutive term as prime minister a day after the election.

Background

The previous general election was held 15 months early before the scheduled date due to the outgoing prime minister,

, wanting to obtain enough support for the implementation of several projects, such as

land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

, in 2019. Browne retained his office, while his Labour Party (ABLP) increased its

in the

. The

(UPP) suffered defeat, with its leader,

Harold Lovell Harold Earl Edmund Lovell (born September 27, 1955) is a politician from Antigua and Barbuda. He was the Minister of Finance, the Economy and Public Administration. He was also the minister of tourism and civil aviation. He was the Foreign Mini ...

, losing his seat. During the parliamentary term Browne attempted to modify the constitution to make the

Caribbean Court of Justice The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ or CCtJ; ; ) is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Established in 2005, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The Caribbean Court of Justice has two jurisdictions: an ...

the final court of appeal in the country in place of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This was however rejected in a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

in November 2018. Following the

in September 2022, Browne announced his intention to organise a referendum within three years regarding the transition to a republican system.

Electoral system

The 17 elected members of the House of Representatives were elected in single-member constituencies by

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

; 16 of the seats were allocated for the island of Antigua and one for the island of Barbuda. In December 2022, Browne announced that the election would be held on 18 January 2023.

Political parties

The table below lists political parties represented in the House of Representatives after the 2018 general election.

Pre-election composition

Campaign

UPP presented its election manifesto on 9 January 2023. Lovell proposed a EC$10 per hour minimum wage and a 10% wage and salary increase for public servants, as well as support for a stable water supply and small businesses. ABLP announced its manifesto on 10 January, proposing to construct more than 1,000 new homes, rebuild the sea landing in Barbuda and open two

. Both parties also expressed support "for a greener Barbuda". Lovell also declined to debate with Browne. The ABLP branch office for the St. John's City East constituency was set on fire on 16 January. Carty Anderson, an

independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

formerly associated with UPP, filed his candidacy due to "continued neglect" of the citizens of the St. John's Rural West constituency. Another independent, Gail Pero-Weston, campaigned on "creating a better political landscape rather than representing a single constituency".

Candidates

On 25 March 2022, the ABLP announced their official candidates. New candidates from the Labour Party include Rawdon Turner replacing Asot Michael, Barbuda senator Knacyntar Nedd replacing Arthur Nibbs and senator Gail Christian replacing deputy speaker of the House Londell Benjamin. The UPP nominated candidates in all constituencies except Barbuda. The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) announced its candidates in April 2022. DNA later announced that Avoy Knight and Tecla Thomas traded their constituencies, and that Stephen Richardson would be their candidate for the St. John's Rural West constituency. Additionally, Moraine Knight was nominated for the St. John's City West constituency and Mario Thomas was nominated for the St. Phillip North constituency. The

(BPM), led by its representative

, announced that it would run in the Barbuda constituency.

Independent politicians An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

Carty Anderson, Gail Pero-Weston, and Michael Asot filed to run in St. John's Rural West, St. John's Rural South, and St. Peter constituencies respectively.

Results

Voting stations were opened from 06:00 to 18:00, and there were 60,916 citizens in total that had the right to vote in the general election. On 5 January 2023, it was announced that the Commonwealth Observer Group, headed by the former president of Seychelles,

Danny Faure Danny Faure (born 8 May 1962) is a Seychellois politician who served as the fourth President of Seychelles from 16 October 2016 until 26 October 2020. Previously, he served as Vice President of Seychelles from 2010 to 2016. Faure is a member of t ...

, would observe the election. CARICOM, as well as the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

, also announced that it would observe over the election. The Caribbean Development Research Services reported lower turnout in comparison with the previous general election. The

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

reported that ABLP won 9 seats in the election, while the UPP won 6 seats in total. In Barbuda, BPM retained its seat while DNA did not win any, although Asot Michael, an independent politician, won his seat in the St. Peter constituency. Lovell of UPP also failed to win his seat.

By constituency

Aftermath

Local news outlets reported that ABLP won 9 seats and that it retained its majority in the House of Representatives. Browne addressed his supporters shortly after the election and was congratulated by

Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla (born 22 January 1958) is a Cuban diplomat and politician. He is a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, and has served as Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2009. Biography and career ...

, the

minister of foreign affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Joanne Massiah Joanne Maureen Massiah is an Antiguan and Barbudan politician and former Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some juris ...

, the leader of the DNA, conceded the election, while Lovell resigned as the leader of UPP. Browne was inaugurated into his third consecutive term in office on 19 January 2023.

References

{{Antigua and Barbuda elections

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Elections in Antigua and Barbuda