U.D.P. Wins Seven of Twenty-nine Village Council Slates

Shyne Barrow

Village council elections across the country began in earnest this past weekend, and of the twenty-nine communities that participated in the vote, eleven of them went to the United Democratic Party.  It is a slow and comparatively weak start, notwithstanding that challenges that have beset the U.D.P. over the past two years.  Nonetheless, Party Leader Shyne Barrow maintains that given those setbacks, the party is doing extremely well.

Shyne Barrow, Party Leader, United Democratic Party

“We won ten of the twenty-nine villages that were contested this Sunday past and we have held on to seven of those.  So, given the circumstances where we only won five seats in the House of Representatives in 2020 and we lost sixty-five of the sixty seven municipal seats last year in 2021, I think that we are off to a great start and this week we will continue to hold and we will continue to fight.  When you have the instances of people not offering themselves in certain villages, I must confess that there is a lot of intimidation and victimization taking place, a lot of fear mongering and people feel that it is too early for them to take the lick that they will take if they come out.  That is understandable, that is why you have some people running independent.  But it is two years, as I said to you a few interviews ago, I made it clear to you that we are rebuilding.  We just elected a new leader and before that there was two years of turmoil and a leadership crisis and in that context we have done extremely well to hold on to seven of the ten that we have won in 2019 and we will continue to do better.”