Antigua and Barbuda Election 2013

The Political Leader of the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP), the Honourable Gaston Browne, this afternoon, Tuesday December 17 2013, received Notice from the lead attorney in the Boundaries Appeal case. The East Caribbean Court of Appeals has granted a stay, which prevents the United Progressive Party (UPP) Government from taking the flawed Constituencies Boundaries Report to Parliament on Thursday, December 19 2013, as planned.

                “I am exceedingly pleased that the Court of Appeals has acted, and that it did so with such swiftness. The Courts are again saving our democracy from being trampled underfoot by those who wish to subvert our freedoms,” the Honourable Gaston Browne remarked.

                A flawed Constituencies Boundaries Report has been the subject of litigation going back to March 11 2013, when the first Report by the Boundaries Commission was prevented from being submitted to the Prime Minister and to the Parliament, by application for a High Court Injunction. The Attorney General conceded that the Commission failed to perform according to law, and he promised that the UPP Government would take no action until the matter was fully adjudicated.

                When Justice Cottle rendered a judgment favourable to the Attorney General on December 6 2013, the UPP regime interpreted that moment to mean that it could move forward with the flawed Boundaries Report. The gerrymandering, the elimination of several constituencies, the chopping-up of fourteen constituencies in a bid to engineer an electoral victory, were the marked features of the flawed Boundaries Report, the ABLP noted.

                The Government scheduled a sitting of the Parliament to be held on Thursday, December 19 2013, for the flawed Constituencies Boundaries Report to be debated, adopted and submitted to the Governor General for signature. The ABLP then sought an injunction or stay from the Court of Appeals to prevent the flawed Report from moving forward to adoption. The Appeals Court this afternoon, Tuesday December 17 2013, ruled that the Opposition and the Government are to submit their arguments in writing by next week Tuesday, December 24 2013. A hearing, in Chambers and on paper only, will then take place two Tuesdays following, on January 7 2013; no action can be taken until after the hearing.

                The ABLP Leader has expressed his thankfulness to the many supporters who prayed for such an outcome, in the first instance; and, he has applauded Anthony Astaphan, Samantha Marshall, John Fuller, and the other attorneys who have so skillfully pursued this important item through the Courts. More work remains to be done, the Leader remarked, since the substantive issue will still have to be heard sometime in the future. Many other decisions regarding de-registration of voters and publication of a Register of Electors are still to be decided.