Toni Moore has paid her required deposit as a candidate in the St George North by-election and is ready to rumble come November 11.
At exactly 10:05 this morning, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate strolled up the walkway of the National Housing Corporation’s Country Road headquarters and was met with much fanfare as she proceeded to pay her $250 at the Treasury.
Flanked by the party’s general secretary Jerome Walcott, campaign manager Dwight Sutherland, Gline Clarke who she is hoping to succeed as MP, Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance Dr William Duguid, and a host of other supporters all clad in red, a smiling Moore emerged from the Treasury 11 minutes later, holding her receipt.
Speaking to members of the media shortly after, Moore, clad in a red armhole blouse, white pants and red heels, said she was looking forward to going to the polls next month.
“I’m feeling energized, I’m feeling highly optimistic, I’m feeling highly confident because I know this just marks another milestone in what will be a tremendous victory for the people of St George North and the people of Barbados,” she said to rapturous applause.
When asked if she believed the by-election was a “two-horse race” between herself and the Democratic Labour Party’s Floyd Reifer, Moore said she admired the fact that several candidates had thrown their hats into the ring.
However, she said, in the end there could only be one winner.
“I think that everybody that is in the race matters. I said it last night, that it is highly commendable that people would want to offer themselves for service, so I will not be one of those demeaning others and demeaning the commitment that people have made to entering a race which suggests that they are interested in serving this country Barbados,” Moore said.
“But there can only be one winner and there will only be one winner and that winner will be giving the people of St George North more.”
The General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union said everything had been going smoothly on the campaign trail thus far and she had received “highly positive feedback” from constituents and support from people of all ages.
“Every district that we have entered we have been receiving welcoming remarks from people, even those people who would say that they are not in a position to support, they are supportive of. We are working daily on converting those votes of support into actual votes on the day of the election on November 11 and we remain, therefore, highly optimistic about what has been going on so far,” Moore noted.
Her campaign manager said he had been in constant contact with the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to ensure the voters’ list was up to date.
“We haven’t seen anything that would cause us to be afraid or to question the EBC’s process, so I would say everything has been going smoothly and we will like it to maintain that way,” Sutherland said.
“The time for us to have persons transferred has passed and at the end of the day we await the final list, but we are in constant contact with the EBC. It has been a professional process.”
Along with the BLP and DLP, the People’s Party for Democracy and Development, the United Progressive Party, and Solutions Barbados are contesting the by-election. (RB)
