BLP Moore vows to touch the life of every resident

A low voter turnout proved to be “Moore” than enough for the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to win Wednesday’s St George North by-election.

The party’s candidate Toni Moore swept a landslide victory to secure a seat in the House of Assembly and maintain the BLP’s 29-seat majority there.

Even though only 49.8 per cent of registered voters cast their ballots in the polls, first-timer Moore accounted for 67.6 per cent of them.

Of the 4 748 votes cast, which included 12 spoilt votes, the 44-year-old General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) accumulated 3 154 votes, more than double her nearest challenger, the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) Floyd Reifer, who garnered 1 327 votes.

There was very little to shout about for the four remaining parties, with Grenville Phillips II of Solutions Barbados earning 95 votes; the United Progressive Party’s (UPP) Ambrose Grosvenor getting 80; David Walrond of the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) securing 70 votes; and Alex Mitchell of the Bajan Free Party receiving just 10 votes.

They each lost their $250 nomination deposit, as none of them obtained more than 1/6 of the total votes cast in the constituency.

Moore convincingly won all of the nine boxes. While she did not outdo her predecessor Gline Clarke, who captured 4 789 votes and won 81 per cent of the vote in the 2018 general elections, she won a greater percentage of votes than he did in either the 2013 or 2008 general elections.

The writing was on the wall by the midway point of counting, with Moore having already established a comfortable lead after winning the boxes considered DLP strongholds.

At exactly 11:23 p.m., by which time a large group of BLP supporters had converged on the premises of the counting centre at St George Secondary School, returning officer Winston Estwick declared Moore the winner.

Moments later, flanked by Prime Minister Mia Mottley, her husband Emmerson Bascombe and seven-year-old daughter Aryanna Bascombe, Moore expressed thanks to the people of St George North.

“I’m feeling thankful. Thankful to God, first of all, for seeing me through the past seven weeks; thankful to a number of people – the PM, I’d like to express special thanks to her for seeing in me the kind of representative that St George North and Barbados deserve,” a smiling Moore said.

“But above all, I want to thank the constituents of St George North. I want to say a very special thank you tonight for allowing me this opportunity to serve. It is certainly humbling.”

She promised to visit those constituents whom she did not get a chance to speak to during her campaign.

Moore also vowed to represent the people of St George North as best as possible, even those who did not vote for her.

“At the start of this journey, I undertook that I would want to hit every single house in St George North…. I wish I could say today that I had achieved that objective.

“I wish I could say that I fought a good fight and I have finished my course, but my course has only just begun,” she emphasised.

“One of the first things that I have to do is to keep faith with my commitment to the constituents of St George North who would have voted for me and those who would not have voted for me…. That is my commitment – that door-to-door and that 100 per cent objective will be met.”

Prime Minister Mottley told those gathered that Moore had exceeded even her expectations.

“This is a commanding and decisive victory for what I predict will be a brilliant career for the people of St George North with her representation, continuing on the stellar work of Gline Clarke in this constituency.

“I said seven to eight weeks ago that I wanted this young lady to become a member of the BLP and to run.

“I made no bones about it and I said that we needed hands on board to lift the heavy weight that 2020 has literally brought upon us,” Mottley said.

“We recognised a few months ago, as well, that we needed to do all that we could to strengthen the labouring classes, not just of Barbados but of the Caribbean and of the world; and that in a very real sense, because of the excessively high unemployment that has been triggered globally as a result of
COVID-19, we felt that we wanted somebody at the table whose first and sole responsibility is labour.”

The Prime Minister called on the opposition parties to “reflect” on the result and to “go back to basics”.

She said while the turnout was lower than expected, that could be as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Without much fanfare, Reifer, accompanied by his wife Amanda, arrived at the St George Secondary School counting centre at 12:10 a.m.

He said while he was disappointed with the result, he believed the low voter turnout impacted his chances of winning.

However, he congratulated Moore and said he hoped she would serve the people of St George North well.

“When you look at GF1 and GF2, it’s a 50 per cent turnout and GF1 is normally a DLP area, so I would say the low turnout had an impact on the outcome of the whole campaign,” Reifer said.

“But saying that, the people made their choice. They chose who they wanted to represent them and, like I said, I want
to say congratulations to Toni Moore and I wish her all the best as she goes forward, but I will be back.”

(randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)