00:00Music
00:11Antigua and Barbuda is preparing to hold a general election on Thursday, April 30th
00:16with the governing party of Prime Minister Gaston Brown, seeking a fourth term in office.
00:20Our correspondent Belén de los Santos is there and has more details. Let's listen.
00:26Hello, studios. Exactly just as we were saying throughout the day, we are in St. John's.
00:33Actually, we are in St. John's City West. That is the constituency that we are in right now.
00:39One of the 17 constituencies that will be up for grabs in this election that is taking place tomorrow, Thursday,
00:47April 30th.
00:48Let's recall this is a snap election that was called by PM Gaston Brown.
00:53That called this election early, understanding that this was a moment for the people to come out and vote
00:58and revalidate the mandate, decide who will run the country for the next five years.
01:04This is the constituency precisely in which PM Gaston Brown is one of the candidates.
01:11Let's recall that the opposition also has a candidate for most of the constituencies,
01:16except for Barbuda in this case. That is the UPP, the United Progressive Party.
01:21That is what is happening. We've been talking to the people around town throughout the day.
01:25This is a day of preparation, a day in which everyone, the organizations, also the Electoral Commission is getting everything
01:33ready.
01:34The day is starting very early in the morning.
01:36Tomorrow, 6 a.m., the voting districts, voting polls will be open until 6 p.m.
01:42Following 6 p.m., counting will begin at the different counting centers, and that is when constituency by constituency,
01:51every number will be counted.
01:53There needs to be a majority out of the 17 that are up for grabs for the government to decide
02:01who will be the next PM,
02:03that is, the leader of the majority.
02:05In this case, of course, the Labour Party of Antigua and Barbuda is seeking to revalidate,
02:10while the UPP is also seeking to win this term.
02:14Let's recall that PM Brown has been in office since 2014, so this is an important election.
02:21We've been talking as well about the decision of calling this election early and the different motives for that.
02:29The motive that the Prime Minister called when he announced this in March was the important and also crucial global
02:36context
02:36that needed for that new mandate in order to take important decisions affecting different nations.
02:43One of the most important topics in discussion, for example, has been the moment and the growth in tourism, for
02:52example.
02:52That is one of the victories that the ruling party is bringing to this election in order to show the
03:00progress of the last year
03:01and seeking to revalidate with the votes at the voting stations tomorrow, Thursday.
03:07We will be here to share everything.
03:09For now, I go back to studios.
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