Antigua: Lester Bird steps down as opposition leader

Immediate past Antigua opposition leader and former Prime Minister Lester Bird

Less than two weeks after he was defeated for the top post in the main opposition Antigua Labor Party (ALP), Lester Bird has stepped down officially as Opposition Leader in parliament.

In a letter sent to Governor General Dame Louise Lake-Take, Bird wrote that he wished to “demit office as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, effective immediately”.

Bird, 74, a former prime minister, told the head of state that Gaston Browne, the Member of Parliament for St. John’s City west, had been elected as the new leader of the ALP.

Browne defeated Bird by a 213-180 margin on November 25 to take control of the main opposition party now preparing to rebuild in time for the general election. It is the first time in the party’s 66 year history that it is not led by a member of the Bird family.

Meanwhile, a statement from the ALP said that both men have agreed to the decision for Bird to relinquish his position as Opposition Leader.

It said that Browne in his letter to Dame Louise had indicated that he had the support of the other opposition parliamentarians. – (CMC)