Antigua and Barbuda prime minister set to win fourth term in election

Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda , is set to win a fourth term in the country’s snap general election with preliminary results showing his party on course to win 15 of the 17 seats in parliament. Addressing supporters early on Friday morning, Browne said: “You have spoken, you have spoken clearly. You have indicated that the Antigua and Barbuda Labour party (ABLP) is the best institution to run this country.” Jamale Pringle, the leader of the opposition United Progressive party (UPP), was the only member of his party to win his seat. Pringle defeated former party member Lamin Newton, who was one of five UPP members to defect to the ABLP before the election. Trevor Walker, the leader of the Barbuda People’s Movement, another opposition party, won the constituency of Barbuda – one half of the twin island nation. The election campaign took place in an unstable political landscape, with shifting party loyalties, and concerns about the cost of living and the impact of global instabilities, such as US visa restrictions. Since the last election in 2023, there have been three byelections, including one triggered by the killing of the independent MP Asot Michael . A Caribbean political analyst, Peter Wickham, described Browne’s fourth-term re-election as “impressive”, attributing the victory to disarray among the opposition. “ Ironically, the one seat that they saved is Pringle’s. …