Antigua PM upbeat over opinion poll

PM Bird and ALP supporters preparing for general election
(Photo: Norman 'Gus' Thomas)

Thursday, November 6, 2003

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua: Mr Lester Bird, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, says he is "upbeat" over the results of the Ron Lester opinion poll which suggests that the ruling Antigua Labour Party of which he is the political leader, will win at least 12 seats in the next general elections.

Mr.Bird made the disclosure during a live television interview on Wednesday evening.

Mr. Bird scoffed at those who suggested that Ronald 'Ron' Lester was mere fiction, noting that the pollster is well known and has conducted polls in the USA for Al Gore and the Democratic Party, he has done polls in Jamaica and he is now doing it in St. Kitts. 

"His reputation is quite good, he teaches at Howard University and to try and reduce this as trivia and say that the person doesn't exist, really doesn't deal with the main thing of the poll and I remain very positive and upbeat about the poll because it points out clearly that the majority of the people in the country feel that the country is on an upswing because of the many projects we have done to lift the economy..."

The ALP leader also spoke of Ron Lester's accuracy during a poll conducted prior to the last general election.

"He had said that we would win 13 seats and in fact we ended up winning twelve," Mr Bird recalled.

Meanwhile, some statistics coming from the poll indicated that 50 percent of the country supports Mr. Bird with 31 percent going for Minority Leader Baldwin Spencer. There were 19 percent who were listed as undecided.

A further breakdown of the genders showed that 46 percent of the men favoured Mr. Bird with 34 percent going for Mr. Spencer. On the Female side of things 58 percent went for Mr. Bird while 23 percent went for Mr. Spencer. In both cases the undecided were 20 and 13 percent.

Some 1,158 persons were quizzed in the poll.

Mr. Bird noted that, the poll was conducted back in July of this year and that the recent cash flow problem, which resulted in the late payment of salaries to public servants, may have affected the population negatively. As a result of this the party is considering commissioning another poll to look at the situation between July and now. He however, remains confident that the Antigua Labour Party will be returned to office at the next general election, which is constitutionally due in March 2004.

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