ST JOHN'S, Antigua, CMC:

The opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) says it has evidence to support its claims that the Baldwin Spencer administration has been offering bribes to potential voters in the lead-up to general elections.

"We are holding this information to give to the election observer missions that we have asked to come to Antigua and Barbuda," said ALP Political Leader Lester Bird in his weekly address here on Sunday.

Ahead of the prime minister's announcement of a new poll, which is constitutionally due by March next year, Bird has warned that this is no fair election.

"The attempts at vote buying are already well and truly in place."

The ALP leader also sought to caution members of the electorate that they must be wary of the promises coming from the four-year-old United Progressive Party (UPP) government.

"In this election season, it is truly quite amazing that after almost five years of almost complete neglect, the UPP are now trying to fix roads and to open the Mount St John Hospital that they ignored all this time for small-minded politics.

Last-minute efforts

"They actually believe that the people of this country will be fooled into voting for them again because of their last-minute efforts to do things that should have been done years ago. And, they expect you to ignore their neglect, their incompetence, their abuse of power and their discrimination and victimisation," he said.

Bird further charged that the government's land-distribution programme was fraught with excesses and abuses and that it was currently being used as an inducement to voters.

Of the 89 parcels of land recently handed out, the ALP leader claimed that "shockingly", only nine parcels of land were actually allocated to persons who applied through the Lands Division.

"We hope that the Antigua Christian Council and others, who have publicly stated their interest in a free and fair election, have taken note of these significant revelations. They demonstrate quite clearly that this election is already not fair," he said.