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Surrounded by family, friends and well-wishers Marsha Caddle celebrates securing her nomination. Here she is congratulated by St. Michael Central candidate, attorney-at-law, Arthur Holder.

Caddle wins

 

Economist, Marsha Caddle, has been given the nod to be the Barbados Labour Party’s candidate for St. Michael South Central in the next General Election.
 
The newcomer Caddle beat the longstanding BLP candidate and one-time Member of Parliament, pharmacist and businessman, David Gill, in a keenly contested nomination election at The St. Michael School on Sunday night. Over 300 persons turned out for the meeting, where Gill was hoping to get the sixth opportunity to represent the BLP, but it was not his night as the 38-year old Caddle secured 132 to his 103 votes to secure the nomination.
 
The first-timer beat Gill in three of the four voting boxes. This now sets the stage for Caddle to come up against the current Member of Parliament, Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Richard Sealy, who first won the seat in the 2003 General Election, edging out Gill by 174 votes. Sealy went on to win the seat on two more occasions against Gill.
 
Addressing the audience after her win, Caddle expressed heartfelt thanks to the constituents for the support they have given her and pledged that her candidacy is aimed at correcting the challenges in that urban constituency. With that in mind, she told members of the branch executive that she is stands ready to work with them and to “make some change happen”.
 
“I am sure, I am confident, I know within my heart that we will all, all of us, all of who came here to vote today as part of this democratic process of which we are so proud, we will all work together, I am confident of that and I thank you in advance for that,” she said.
 
She also thanked Gill for “the fight” and in acknowledging the contribution he has made to the constituency, she expressed her willingness and desire to work with him to win the seat for the BLP.
 
“Mr. Gill we are going to build on your legacy with your support; we are going to work together as one Barbados Labour Party, as one St. Michael South Central. We have so much work to do, but I’m always ready for some hard work and I know that you are too,” she said. However the sentiment seemed not to be shared by Gill, who in his speech alleged that the “machinery was against” him and so he could not have won, but he still felt he had done well and expressed his gratitude to the constituents for their support. The five-time candidate’s comments came as he also claimed that he was denied 60 votes in the nomination.
 
Responding to Gill’s remarks, General Secretary of the BLP, Dr. Jerome Walcott, refuted the former candidate’s claim that he was denied votes, explaining that the reason why those persons could not vote on Sunday because they had not been members of the Party for at least six weeks.
 
He explained that the constitution of the Party clearly states in section 22 (d) that a person would have to be a member for six weeks before their membership is recognised.
 
“Mr. Gill submitted 71 forms on August 26; 23 of those forms were incomplete; indeed some of them had not even been signed by the persons who were applying for membership. The six week period would mean that those persons would become members on October 9, today is the of October 2 – really basic arithmetic – they would not qualify. They would not be within the six week period and certainly could not be included on the list,” he stated. (JRT) 

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