Type: | parliamentary |
Country: | Antigua and Barbuda |
Election Date: | 9 March 1999 |
Previous Year: | 1994 |
Next Year: | 2004 |
Seats For Election: | All 17 seats in the House of Representatives |
Majority Seats: | 9 |
Turnout: | 63.61% (1.29pp) |
Outgoing Members: | 10th legislature of Antigua and Barbuda#Members |
Elected Members: | 11th legislature of Antigua and Barbuda#Members |
Image1: | Former Prime Minister Honourable Lester B. Bird (cropped).jpg |
Leader1: | Lester Bird |
Party1: | ALP |
Seats1: | 12 |
Seat Change1: | 1 |
Popular Vote1: | 17,521 |
Percentage1: | 52.94% |
Swing1: | 1.50pp |
Leader2: | Baldwin Spencer |
Party2: | United Progressive Party (Antigua and Barbuda) |
Seats2: | 4 |
Seat Change2: | 1 |
Popular Vote2: | 14,713 |
Percentage2: | 44.45% |
Swing2: | 0.74pp |
Leader3: | Hilbourne Frank |
Image3: | 3x4.svg |
Party3: | BPM |
Seats3: | 1 |
Popular Vote3: | 418 |
Percentage3: | 1.26% |
Swing3: | 0.09pp |
Prime Minister | |
Posttitle: | Subsequent Prime Minister |
Before Election: | Lester Bird |
Before Party: | ALP |
After Election: | Lester Bird |
After Party: | ALP |
General elections were held in Antigua and Barbuda on 9 March 1999.[1] The elections were won by the governing Antigua Labour Party. Lester Bird was re-elected Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. Voter turnout was 63.6%.[1]
The elections were extremely close, with the UPP losing five seats by a narrow 554 votes in total, and had the elections been free and fair (the government controlled almost all newspapers as well as television and radio stations), the opposition could have won a majority.[2] Opposition leader Baldwin Spencer criticised the conduct and fairness of the elections and began a hunger strike in protest to the flaws in the system. The government responded by establishing the independent Antigua & Barbuda Electoral Commission in 2001.