{"id":13788,"date":"2018-03-25T15:52:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T19:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=13788"},"modified":"2018-03-25T15:53:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-25T19:53:52","slug":"walker-says-he-wasnt-approach-to-be-opposition-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/walker-says-he-wasnt-approach-to-be-opposition-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Walker says he wasn’t approached to be Opposition Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Veteran politician Trevor Walker said he was not approached for the position of Opposition Leader in the new Parliament after the lone successful candidate of the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP), Jamale Pringle was sworn in on Friday.<\/p>

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Walker, who has contested several general elections, won the lone seat on Barbuda during Wednesday\u2019s general election that Prime Minister Gaston Browne called more than a year ahead of the constitutional deadline.<\/p>\n

Walker, who returns to parliament four years after being defeated by the ABLP candidate, Arthur Nibbs, said that the appointment of Opposition Leader \u2018was neither here nor there.Browne led his Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) to a convincing 15-2 victory.<\/p>

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\u201cIt was not up to me or Mr. Pringle unless we got together and decided who gets the position,\u201d he said, adding \u201chad I been offered the position, I probably would not have taken it.<\/p>

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\u201cIt\u2019s neither here nor there for me. The people of Barbuda sent me to Parliament to do a job and I am going to do it regardless of whether I am Opposition leader or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not hell bent on it. I just pledge to do my very best in the Parliament, to work and represent the people of Barbuda. I want to focus on Barbuda and getting certain things done, their rebuilding efforts and sorting out the land situation,\u201d he added.
\nBarbuda was heavily impacted by Hurricane Irma when the category 5 storm roared through the Caribbean last September, resulting in voters on the sister isle having to cast their ballots in Antigua.<\/p>

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Walker had unsuccessfully challenged that decision by the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC).<\/p>\n

Pringle narrowly defeated the ABLP Colin James by 10 votes in the All Saints East and St Luke constituency \u2013 a UPP stronghold.<\/p>

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Pringle\u2019s appointment came as UPP political leader Harold Lovell broke his silence on the party\u2019s dismal performance at the polls. Lovell did not make a statement on election night, but in his statement on Friday,\u00a0 issued through the party\u2019s public relations officer, thanked everyone who played a part in the campaign and offered his congratulations to the winning party.<\/p>

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\u201cTo Mr. Gaston Browne and the ABLP, let me offer my congratulations. We live in a democracy, and the majority has spoken. The people have once again given you the mandate to take the country forward, and I wish you well because, in the end, it is all the people who will benefit if things are done properly,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

In keeping with the UPP\u2019s campaign theme, he told supporters there\u2019s always hope and that the campaign did not end on election night.<\/p>\n

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Veteran politician Trevor Walker said he was not approached for the position of Opposition Leader in the new Parliament after the lone successful candidate of the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP), Jamale Pringle was sworn in on Friday. Walker, who has contested several general elections, won the lone seat on Barbuda during Wednesday\u2019s general […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nWalker says he wasn't approached to be Opposition Leader - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/walker-says-he-wasnt-approach-to-be-opposition-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walker says he wasn't approached to be Opposition Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Veteran politician Trevor Walker said he was not approached for the position of Opposition Leader in the new Parliament after the lone successful candidate of the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP), Jamale Pringle was sworn in on Friday. 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