Their CUP didn’t run over, after all.
Independent candidates and representatives of fringe parties fared better in terms of votes gained in last Thursday’s general election, but that didn’t translate to money saved.
All eight candidates who went to the polls as opponents of the winning Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and the losing Barbados Labour Party (BLP) lost their deposit, earning the Treasury Department a total of $2 000.
Taan Abed, who ran in the Christ Church West constituency against eventual winner Dr Maria Agard of the BLP (2 288 votes) and the DLP’s Verla De Peiza (1 777), was the most successful of the group, collecting 351 of the 4 416 votes cast.
Next best in the group was founder/president of the New Barbados Kingdom Alliance Lynroy Scantlebury, who earned 72 votes in St Peter, running against eventual winner Owen Arthur of the BLP (3 665 votes) and Haynesley Benn of the DLP (1982).
The Coalition of United Parties (CUP) had four candidates in the election, with its newcomer in Christ Church South, Steve Hunte, earning 39 votes in the run against eventual winner John Boyce of the DLP (2 663 votes) and teh BLP’s Dr Jerome Walcott (2 062).
In St Michael South, former United States Marine Alex Mitchell, president of the CUP, totalled 43 votes challenging Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and Noel Lynch of the BLP.
Independent John Warde proved to be a reasonable newcomer in St Michael West Central, which produced one of the closest races in the election. He earned 68 votes while battling eventual winner James Paul of the DLP (2 239) and BLP candidate Ian Gooding-Edghill (2 046). Also in that constituency, independent candidate Herman Lowe collected 36 votes.
The CUP’s Eric Marshall, in St James Central, earned 51 votes against the winner, Kerrie Symmonds of the BLP (2 315), and former DLP minister George Hutson (2 247).
In St Michael North, entrepreneur Mark Adamson of the CUP totalled the same number of votes, 38, as he did in the 2008 poll, against the same candidates – Ronald Toppin of the BLP (2 506) and the DLP’s Francis De Peiza (2 322). (BA)
