Baldwin Spencer
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Winston Baldwin Spencer
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| Assumed office 24 March 2004 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor General | James Carlisle Louise Lake-Tack |
| Preceded by | Lester Bird |
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| Born | 8 October 1948 |
| Political party | UPP |
| Spouse | Jacklyn Spencer |
- For the anthropologist, see Walter Baldwin Spencer
Winston Baldwin Spencer (born October 8, 1948) is the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. He has been Prime Minister since March 24, 2004, when his party, the United Progressive Party (UPP), which he had led as the opposition party for several years, won a parliamentary election. He has also been Minister of Foreign Affairs since January 6, 2005.
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[edit] Early life and education
Baldwin Spencer was born and raised in the Grays-Green community. He is a graduate of the Greenbay Primary School and the Princess Margaret Secondary School. He pursued higher education in the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada. He received a diploma in Social Leadership from the Coady International Institute in Canada and Diplomas in Labour and Economic Studies and Labour and Industrial Relations Systems from Ruskin College and Norway’s Oslo University, respectively.
[edit] Leader of the Opposition
Baldwin Spencer is rooted in labour. For a quarter century, he was a prominent labour leader with the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union. Spencer was first elected to Parliament in 1989 as the MP for the St. John's Rural West constituency.
In 1992, Baldwin Spencer played an integral role in the formation of the United Progressive Party. He previously served as a leader with the United National Democratic Party and spearheaded collaborative meetings with the Antigua Caribbean Liberation Movement that resulted in the formation of the United Progressive Party. Upon formation of the party, Spencer rose to become the political leader of the party and the Opposition Leader in the Parliament.
As Opposition Leader Baldwin Spencer organised public demonstrations and went on a hunger strike to advocate for electoral reform after the widely criticised 1999 elections. His advocacy led to the formation of an independent Electoral Commission to oversee elections in Antigua and Barbuda. He also led the fight to ensure that opposition had access to state owned media, such as the television station, Antigua Broadcasting Service (ABS). To that end, he filed a writ and took the Bird Government to court arguing that, in a democratic society, citizens have a right to hear an opposing political perspectives on government airwaves.
[edit] Prime Minister
In 2004, Baldwin Spencer led the United Progressive Party to a landslide victory in the general election. He defeated Lester Bird's ALP, which had ruled Antigua and Barbuda for the previous 28 years. In Government he moved to enact a trio of good government reforms: a nationwide school meals programme, raising the minimum wage and paying all civil servants.
Internationally Baldwin Spencer is known as a skilled diplomat who helped his country assume the leadership of the Group of 77 in 2008. A testament to his diplomatic skill, Prime Minister Spencer received the highest order of Cote d'Ivoire, the Commander of the National Order. He was also recognized by the United Nations for his leadership, receiving the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Award in recognition for his work advancing the cause of international development.[1]
The UPP won the March 2009 election with a reduced majority of nine out of 17 seats. Spencer himself defeated ALP candidate Gale Christian in the St John's Rural West constituency, receiving 2,259 votes against 1,753 for Christian. Spencer said on this occasion that it would "not be business as usual", and he was promptly sworn in for another term as Prime Minister when vote counting was completed.[2]
[edit] Personal life
Prime Minister Spencer is married and the father of two children. He is a Chief Pathfinder in the Northern Hemisphere of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
[edit] References
- ^ [1]
- ^ "UPP wins, but Bird back in parliament", Caribbean360.com, 13 March 2009.
[edit] External links
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Lester Bird |
Prime Ministers of Antigua and Barbuda 2004 – present |
Incumbent |
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