UPP challenges electoral list

Lawyers representing the main opposition party in the Antigua and Barbuda will be going to court on Friday to try and convince a judge that the names of some people should not be on the voters list for the general elections on March 23.

The United Progressive Party is challenging the Electoral Commission's decision to include the names of more than a thousand people who were registered between December 15 and 31 on the electoral register.

They also say the transferring of names of some people between constituencies was not properly done and accused the government of voter padding, a claim the ruling Antigua Labour Party has denied.

The BBC's correspondent in Antigua said that Prime Minister Lester Bird has criticised young Antiguans and Barbudans for supporting the UPP.

Mr Bird accused the young professionals of being turning their backs on the government after it provided the opportunities for them to be educated at home and abroad.

"You notice when you go to a UPP meeting, you see a lot of young people who this labour party has caused to get professions, they're lawyers, they're doctors and all of a sudden they get so 'edge up' and 'nuff up' with themselves that they don't want to associate with you," Mr Bird said.

The Antiguan leader was also critical of the endorsements given to opposition by former Premier Sir George Walter, West Indies cricketing icon Sir Viv Richards and outgoing parliamentarian Sherfield Bowen, who was a member of the ALP.

The Prime Minister also criticised the UPP for only launching its manifesto at a public meeting on Monday night.

Mr Bird said doing so a week before the polls was "a big insult" to the people by the opposition, and it does not give the ALP the chance to "rip the manifesto to ribbons".

But opposition spokesman Dean Jonas told the BBC that the party held back the launching of the manifesto until they felt it was the right time.

Mr Jonas said the people already know what the UPP's major plans and policies for the country will be if they form the next government.