Richard Lewis, the current Member of Parliament for St John’s Rural West with the United Progressive Party (UPP), has entered the party’s leadership race against interim Political Leader, Jamale Pringle.
The UPP has lacked an elected leader since Harold Lovell’s resignation in 2023. Lewis previously vied for leadership in 2019, losing by over 200 votes to Lovell.
Nonetheless, Lewis’s extensive parliamentary experience, including his Senate appointment in 2018 and MP election in 2023, positions him as a formidable candidate.
Pringle, the former Deputy Leader and current Opposition Leader, also commands significant party support.
Some members fear further party divisions with another leadership contest.
The party convention on April 20 will determine the new UPP leader amid multiple contested positions.
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Watch and learn ABLP how leadership challenges are conducted respectfully and politely within the UPP ranks.
You’ll find that members and colleagues will strongly represent themselves for the roll of the next leader of this great great country, with no malice intended towards one and other – something that the ABLP could NEVER do!
Furthermore, I also hope that other UPP contenders step into this important contest into who leads Antigua & Barbuda out of the wilderness.
A NEW BEGINNING BECKONS, HIP HIP…
@ Brixtonian, in appreciating your timid description of UPP let me remind you that politics is a blood sport…..
Hi Richard, please read my SECOND paragraph again, but very SLOWLY this time – it might help!
Much appreciated 👍🏾
@ BRIXTONIAN…Both of your Candidates don’t make one. UPP basket is very shallow. Richard and Pringle cannot draw anyone to the party. BRIXTONIAN is living in a cocoon.
Try GLADYS POTTER or PEARL QUINN WILLIAMS. All are BIG JOKES.
Lol, you’re not serious. After our blood sport, we join together to rally behind the victor. We don’t leave the party to join forces with the other party. There won’t be much competition anyways. So, if and when Richard wins, would he be able to maintain his seat in Rural West? That’s the other conundrum he will have to face.
@Dave Ray stop it, we supporting Pringle. He represents the core of UPP and no upstart named RL, whose seat is not sure will beast our Pringles
@ BRIXTONIAN…Both of your Candidates don’t make one. UPP basket is very shallow. Richard and Pringle cannot draw anyone to the party. BRIXTONIAN is living in a cocoon.
Try GLADYS POTTER or PEARL QUINN WILLIAMS. All are BIG JOKES.
ALP paid bloggers are trying to sew discord in the public opinion narrative of upp.
You haffu crazy. Everyone who loses a leadership race in the UPP is victimized and treated like a dog. Richard has experienced this first hand, when dem openly teif the election infront of his eyes. This leadership race will tear the party apart.
@ Ayo
Obviously you’re on your knees now as we speak. Good luck.
Well done. I hope Richard Lewis wins. Shuggy is the only other MP who has leadership abilities. Pringle is not the candidate to be leader. He just does not fit the mold to lead the UPP. He does not have leadership qualities.
Neither of the two has leadership qualities. Can they become prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda? That’s the question you must ask yourself. If Lovell couldn’t become PM, how will either of them?
If a kleptomaniac mythomaniac lunatic can be leading us into colonization again then we can elect anyone else to govern us. When was the last ALP convention held and when is the next? The Great Dictator will never allow that.
@Dave Ray:You would do and say just about anything to get that job in New York.Why you do not go down to Antigua and kneel before Gaston.Perhaps then you would get that work promised to you since 2014.Keep on singing for your supper,daily.Why you do not tell Gaston to set up the ABLP Convention.It has been over due for years now.Those MP’s in that ABLP cannot say one damn thing.They have no balls and or backbones.
Shuggy can’t even read, but you want him to lead?
@ Ayo
He can speak and spell and talk and more principled than ‘JUDAS ISCARIOT DWAYNE GEORGE’ though, who got the ROYAL beating, lol, so much so that Gaston cannot catch himself up to now!!!
1 Richard Lewis won’t win although he is the bettet candidate.
2. A female will join the race and they will vote for her.
Either way, Richard Lewis will loose
Lovell showed his character by resigning… Now put the man back to lead the country.
Lol, you’re a wicked person. You obviously don’t like him. Are you saying that you wish to put him through that losing ordeal at the constituency level again?
Luke. To vote for Pringle or James insults me… serious.
Back to the point… lovell must lead UPP for now, or it’s political suicide for the party.
The future of Antigua and Barbuda is uncertain and it needs a leader with integrity, intellectual capacity as well a realistic vision for the future.
MP Pringle does not have such a capacity. He has been in a position to demonstrate his skills and ability to lead and execute, snd he has not done so.
MP Richard Lewis has, including offering up a series of articles about the importance of better governance.
World over, that’s how national leaders inmerge, inviting debates and make their philosophy known to the public.
They write books, address forums or write policy articles.
In MP Lewis frequent articles on issues of national importance, at least that has he has the ability to articulate his ideas for a better Antigua and Barbuda.
Being reactionary to troubling issues such as lack of water supply or the medical center shortages and conditions shows poor readership.
Where were these MP before Troy Allen demagogic article on the Medical Center.
At least Richard Lewis makes his case on issues such as the Government bureaucratic regulations that aids the political culture of “Talk to your Minister”.
Sure road conditions are bad in Pringles Constituency. But Mr. Pringle as party leader has allowed Gaston Browne to run amuck.
The issues that are plaguing the country are bigger than bad roads; and even Mr. Pringle raises that issue it shows he is fully invested in the “Speak to your Minister” culture
Lewis has shown he is a thinker as well as a policy advocate. I’ve seen no such thing from Mr. Pringle other than perpetuating the “Talk to your Minister” narrative.
I respect your response albeit I’m an ABLP supporter. It’s not that Pringle doesn’t produce abstracts on a comprehensive policy for the future of the country. Other than sounding platitudinous, he doesn’t have the capacity. Recently, it was alleged that he was being coached to speak in proper sentences, comprehend the rules of Grammar, etc. I must admit that he is much improved; though not positioned for leadership.
A country that is ruled by one man is called a dictatorship which is what we have at the moment with Gaston Browne. In a democracy, for example the USA, the president doesn’t make all the decisions. There are people called consultants and advisors. I am sure that UPP has many individuals who can be replied upon for sound advice. Gaston doesn’t think he needs advisors as he is the smartest man in the country and doesn’t listen to anyone.
You should stay out of UPP business and who they elect as leader. You should ask yourself who in the Labour Party can take over from Gaston Browne.
The deck is stacked against the UPP
For them to beat the ABLP they have to start to bring policy issues to the table; and show the public that ABLP bad policies can lead to more problems of poverty and inequity.
The unconscionable rate of sales taxes and other use taxes are regressive taxes that hits working class families and poor people the hardest.
That’s a very simple thing to understand and use to educate the masses.
The 17 1/2 percent ABST has increased price gouging. Where is the Opposition Party that is supposed to be presenting solutions and bringing them to the people in order to garner their support?
The deck is not stacked against the UPP. Just remember the Labour Party did not receive the majority of votes during the last election. Gaston did not fairly win the last election after he manipulated the registration of voters. Antigua at the moment is not a democracy. It is a dictatorship ruled by an individual who will do anything to remain in power. We will wait and see if he graciously leaves office when voted out. He likes to say, I am the prime minister.
This man is going to cause all kinds of trouble for Antigua as he thinks he is head of a super power. He has no diplomacy and does not know when to shut up?
Well highlighted @ Saying. I think one of the most serious times that Antigua & Barbuda will face, is when Gaston Browne has to go.
Everyone knows that he will not go quietly.
In fact, he’ll not only give the new UPP government hell to pay, but you can imagine that vital documents will be shredded; emails deleted; and WhatsApp messages disappear into the ethereal stratosphere.
Meanwhile, Antiguans will suffer bad, bad, bad because of one FOOLS out and out ignorance and bad-minded behaviour.
You think Gassssston is out of control now, just watch when he has to leave … woy yoy!!!
WE NAH SEE NOTHING YET!
The UPP didn’t receive the majority either. Can’t believe you guys have teamed up with the devil.
Lol yall really sound like those MAGA and Trump supporters who still can’t believe Donald Trump lost the 2020 elections in the USA. How in the world did UPP got more votes than ABLP when in the final count show ABLP had 20,052 while UPP has 19,267. Math was never my strongest subject in school but last I check 20052 is a higher number then 19267. And please don’t count those votes for St. Peter because that candidate is an INDEPENDENT candidate. Yall will make any and every excuse to justify yall delusional theories that ABLP stole the elections. Oh I forgot yall believed the $4.5 billion US came in the belly the plane and the FBI was coming to arrest Gaston Browne 5 days after the election. So yall will believe in anything.
@ Chupes
No one said UPP won the most votes. We can do the math. The combined opposition total was more than ALP.
You should listen to Gaston on his radio station where he said that he did not transfer people into his constituency and in fact transferred people out to help his other candidates. No one is making up excuses. You just want to not accept what your leader admitted to. Now tell me if a sane thief would led go on radio and say he is a thief.
There yall go again moving the goal post and changing the narrative. Yall with this bs about the UPP getting more votes than ABLP and when pointed out that is not the case yall change it saying now it’s not just UPP but the entire opposition. Also St. John’s City West is one of the smallest constituency do you really think that all the transfers from there would make up the difference oh please!!! And speaking of massive transfers of voters why don’t yall address the massive transfers of voters to the St. Peter’s constituency. Oh right we not talking about that one. I swear yall behave just like the MAGA/Trump supporters refusing to accept that yall lost!!!!
Lol yall really spund like those MAGA and Trump supporter who still can’t believe Donald Trump lost the 2020 elections in the USA. How in the world did UPP got more votes than ABLP when in the final count show ABLP had 20,052 while UPP has 19,267. Math was never my strongest subject in school but last I check 20 is a higher number then 19. And please don’t count those votes for St. Peter because that candidate is an INDEPENDENT candidate. Yall will make any and every excuse to justify yall delusional theories that ABLP stole the elections. Oh I forgot yall believed the 4.5 billion $US on the plane and the FBI was coming to arrest Gaston Browne 5 days after the election. So yall will believe in anything.
@ Richard
Only UPP doesn’t realize that it’s a blood sport.
Harold has the basic skills to be a Prime Minister, but not the fire in your belly personally required to get there.
Harold has the demeanor of an assistant law professor. What he says is thoughtful and has merit. It is not a winning characteristic for the type of politics practiced in the Caribbean.
Gaston and his crew will chew up Harold Lovell, before he gets out the starting gate the moment word gets out Harold is in contention; or being drafted into the Leadership of the UPP
The comments on these pages of ANR are indicative that the Antigua and Barbuda people are more interested in the take down of each other than presenting reasoned rational arguments for political solutions that would make their lives better and secure and leave something for future generations.
That’s just YOUR opinion @ CountryMan Abroad, and you are entitled to it, but it doesn’t mean you’re correct. Tarl!
Dr. Ray aka Dave Ray,
I’d rather have a PM who may lack some leadership qualities, than one who is a “blowviator” and whose only leadership qualities are that of Self Enrichment and Give away artist to millionaires and billionaires. ala the Bloviator Donald Trump who says he makes rich people richer.
May I remind you of a young Mister Sean Bird who left tge Political Party created by his illustrious grand father and formed his own party called the Real Labor Party. His efforts turned out no different from Joanne’s.
@Dr. Ray,
I have no reason to doubt that Pringle is being coach to put a proper sentence together.
If that is true; it adds to the reasons why it would be a mistake to keep him as UPP party leader.
Most country leaders from time to time put their foot in their mouth as Gaston did recently meeting with the new Ambassador.
With Trump recently saying he has no problems with Russia attacking NATO countries.
Can you imagine how Gaston’s comments are playing in Washington DC ?
If we were a country of any kind of significance our Ambassador Ron Saunders would have been called and dressed down. It goes to show how much of an unguided missile Gaston can be.
That was an issue the UPP should have gotten political mileage, in furthering the narrative that Gaston is unfit as a Prime Minister.
UPP certainly has failed in many regards.
Without any Party affiliation, I do think they are a better choice for Antigua and Barbuda’s future.
As another business owner asked me recently: what is better. Incompetence or corruption?
The answer is simple Antigua and Barbuda can live with a degree of incompetence as is shown with the current leadership. Corruption is wiping out our future.
@Dave Ray.
You are an absolute joke, and the blatant propaganda spin artist that I have already called you out to be in the past.
Everything that comes out of you and Gatson Brownes mouth, is pure hogwash, and sometimes I do think that you two are one in the same.
Smart people do not pay attention to you on here, just like they don’t pay attention to your ignorant, narcissistic leader.
But hey, you can smoke a big ole fat blunt on this very fact that about to tell you, that Mr Simon, better known as “Shuggy”, will lead this Country one day soon, and not to far in the future.
So you can put that in writing, instead of all the hogwash you come on ANR to spew.
Real joker you be!!!
Pringle has my vote for UPP leadership (if they gave me one). RL is out of place, how dare he challenge someone with the pedigree of Pringle? Pringle has done the work, and sacrificed much for the party, while RL flexed his gum. Fact is RL is not even certain he will hold his current seat while Pringle’s seat is more certain. Vote for Pringle… please
@Tenman
Tell me this is not Tenman. Are you a snake in the grass? We all know you are not a supporter of UPP much less Pringle. You are just a conniving labour supporter.
@Tennan,
What rock did you crawl out from under? Your statement is not even a sinister statement.
Anyone who follows these comments should know you are a ABLP conspiracy theorist. Keep your thoughts to your comrades
I was wondering.What the hell became of Tenman and From the Endlines/Sidelines.Are you not getting paid by Gaston to comment on his behalf anymore?
PRINGLE has the only safe seat in UPP. All the other seats are one term.
@ FERN
You would know because you vote for EVERYONE in the country…… so DAM STUPID
@ FERN, you keep believing that. The tide is turning after 40-odd years of Birdism and Browneism; and do not forget that the citizens of Antigua & Barbuda are showing signs that they’ve had enough.
Two terms of UPP governance (starting from 2028) will sort the country out.
CAN’T WAIT …
The UPP is more organized, and focused than many of us, either don’t want to realize, accept or admit.
The process of selecting their Leader while, it may not be what many may like or approve of, is still open and fair to all of the aspirants. Something which is very lacking with the ABLP.
Be that as it may, RICHARD LEWIS, MP will emerge as the winner.
The UPP will then have to define the RICHARD LEWIS AGENDA, present to the populace and keep chipping away at the ABLP very fragile armour. Regardless, of the public display of togetherness, the ABLP has being weakened tremendously. This will become even more evident, if GASTON BROWNE and the ABLP Leadership have the cohones, to call their Convention to select a Leader.
It’s also quite clear, as to why Gaston Browne is all to willing, to accept the UPP turncoats and is putting his hand picked representatives in key positions, to bolster his efforts as the leader of the ABLP. Asot Michael, Chet Greene and Melford Nicholas are waiting in vain to throw their hats in the ring.
Yes, I know, this is about the selection of the Leader for the UPP, but as is evident from comments from the likes of the ABLP spin doctors of @tenman aka the Chameleon of many Hughes, and Dave Ray aka Dr. Brushee is to sew discord and distort the UPP Leadership Election process.
#RICHARD LEWIS WINS:
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg🦶🏿Garrat_Bastard
Vere C. Edwards
@TUNA
Haven’t you heard ?
Trouble at Global Bank of Commerce.
The slush fund is empty and the Chinese are dragging their feet with the money.
The paid trolls are waiting for their back-pay; so you can expect that they will only post their once in a while; and not 3 and 4 times in a day as is customary.
Trouble at Global Bank of Commerce you all snd it will not be alleviated until the Chinese step in.
Even the ABLP trolls are affected.
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