UPP Blog

Tomorrow, the UPP Government is kicking off our Island Beautification Campaign. This campaign is focused on making our island more attractive and appealing for our people and our tourists. This island wide cleanup will promote a spirit of community conservation and encourage people to take care of our precious island.

This campaign will be cleaning up communities across Antigua. We're starting with the Grace Green Community. Tomorrow, we will plant trees in the area and Saturday we will conduct a community cleanup.

Join us tomorrow at 10 am at the Multi Purpose Cultural Centre for the tree planting and on Saturday at 7 pm at the King George V grounds for the community clean up. Please contact Vashti Ramsey at 463-9522/23 for more information. We hope you can join us!

They say that facts are stubborn things. And, when you look at the facts regarding voting patterns and participation in St. George, St. John's Rural North and St. John's Rural West, it's clear that they mirrored the rest of the country. Everett Christian writes in CaribArena:

Now, for a closer look at the voting pattern during the 2009 elections: As intimated above, the average voter turn-out in 2009 was 80.27%. The turn-out in the three constituencies, where the election results have been voided, is as follows:

* St. John’s Rural West – 80.48% which is marginally above the national average.
* St. John’s Rural North – 79.03%, which is 1% below the national average, and
* St. George – 79.02%, which is also 1% below the national average.

For the record, the turn-out in these constituencies was not only in line with the national average, but they exceeded the turnout in several other constituencies, including:

* St. John’s Rural South, which had a voter turn-out of 76.36%, which you will note is 3.91% below the national average, and
* St. Mary’s North, which recorded a voter turn-out of 77.84%, which is 2.43% below the national average.

When these figures are examined, it is impossible to comprehend how it could be suggested or construed that persons were disenfranchised, and to the extent that it would have a bearing on the outcome of the election of the candidates involved. In my humble opinion, Justice Blenman erred, and significantly so, when she confined her comparison only to the voter turn-out in 2009 vs. 2004; and once the premise of the judgment is false, the result is bound to be flawed. To use a local saying, one has to compare apples with apples; not apples with oranges, and that is precisely what Justice Blenman did when she used the 2004 turn-out as the basis for arriving at her decision. Not only was the learned lady comparing apples with oranges but she did so in a year when the list was not “clean” - hence a double whammy, as the trends clearly demonstrate that the voter turn-out when the electoral list in not clean is significantly lower.

Had Justice Blenman done the math, she would have gleaned from the above statistics that the percentage voter turnout in 2009 was the highest in Antigua’s history of elections with unclean lists. Remarkable but factual! With the benefit of this knowledge, the learned Judge would have been bound to deliver a ruling contrary to the one she did.

Mr. Christian goes on to create a hypothetical and concludes that even in the most favourable scenario for the ALP, the UPP, the UPP would still be the majority party in Parliament. Mr. Christian:

Another factor that was most likely overlooked by the Judge, is that the highest voter turn-out in Antigua was in the constituency of St. Philip North (which is one of the smaller constituencies in terms of the number of registered electors), where the turnout was 85.06%. Even if, for the sake of argument, the Judge were to decide that the turn-out in the three affected constituencies should be at least 85.06% (and this reasoning could not withstand scrutiny) this would have the following effect:

* The number of voters in St. John’s Rural West would increase by 229 to 4,250
* The number of voters in Rural North would increase by 216 votes to 3,043, and
* The number of voters in St. George would increase by 267 to 3,755.

Further, if hypothetically all of the new votes were awarded to the ALP, the UPP would still be declared the winner in St. John’s Rural West and St. George, where the margin of victory was 506 votes and 502 votes respectively. Only in the case of St. John’s Rural North would the result be different, as the margin of victory was 79 votes, compared to the 216 additional voters.

The point that screams loudest in all this is that, despite whatever permutation is used, the UPP would still be the majority party in Parliament. This is as simple as ABC or 1-2-3. The decision of Justice Blenman, which according to her was based on a comparison of historical data, defies mathematical logic, since fairness demanded that a much broader approach be used rather than just the data from the previous election. My analysis bears this out. The UPP is therefore more than justified in its decision to appeal to a higher Court. In the interest of equity, fair-play and natural justice, this flawed judgement should be overturned if all the facts and historical statistics are taken into account.

Facts are stubborn things. And, the facts show that the people had their say and the UPP clearly won the 2009 election.

The UPP Government are competent managers of the debt created largely from the disastrous financial management of the previous ALP regime. CaribArena reports:

According to a release issued last night, IMF "Deputy Managing Director Murilo Portugal, said the programme being pursued by Antigua and Barbuda is impressive and assured Minister Lovell of the Fund’s continued support as Antigua and Barbuda seeks to emerge from the shock of the global economic and financial crises."

The UPP Government was dealt a tough hand. We were dealt a mountain of debt from the corrupt and incompetent ALP regime. And, we had to deal with the disastrous consequences of the global economic crisis. While there's still much work to do, after years of mismanagement, we finally have this country on the right track and headed in the right direction.

Jacqui Quinn-Leandro isn't letting her campaign bus sit idle - she's using it to help seniors in her constituency. CaribArena reports:

St Georges MP Dr Jacqui Quinn-Leandro continued the bi-weekly bus tour/excursion for senior citizens and constituents on Sunday.

“During the elections, we acquired a bus for the campaign, and instead of having the bus out of service we have decided to use it for excursions, to take the senior citizens and young people on tours,” the representative said...

Quinn-Leandra said the excursion gives residents, especially the senior citizens, the chance to re-connect with the country and unwind from the politics of the week.

Your UPP MPs and constituency representatives aren't letting up. We're continuing to take action to improve the lives of people across Antigua.