Prime Minister Gaston Browne has warned that his administration is prepared for early by-elections as opposition legislators made good on their threat to boycott the first sitting of the new Parliament following the June 12 general election.
“I want to send a very clear message that we will ensure using our parliamentary majority that if members on the other side seek to undermine the work of this House and absent themselves for three consecutive sittings, then trust me you will have one or several by elections,” he said to loud applause.
Former chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC) Sir Gerald Watt was sworn in as Speaker of the new Parliament here on Wednesday after Opposition legislators kept their promise and boycotted the event.
The three Opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) legislators, including former Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, had indicated they would not attend the sitting, the first since the general election which the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party won by a 14-3 margin.
The Opposition legislators alleged that not enough notice had been given to them for the sitting.
