Jamale Pringle, Political Leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP), formally endorsed former Senator Alex Browne as the party’s candidate for the St Philip’s North by-election, scheduled for March 16.

Pringle made the endorsement before scores of supporters and virtually all the party’s candidates and caretakers at a rally in Willikies Tuesday night, declaring that “the road to national change begins in St. Philip’s North.”

In a video message, he framed the by-election as a pivotal moment for the country, telling the crowd that the governing administration “has long run out of ideas in regard to the development of Antigua and Barbuda, is now indeed running out of time.”

Pringle called for the dismantling of what he described as a “system of cronyism that had kept people poor and failed to deliver services to communities.”

“Antigua and Barbuda is determined to get rid of the cronyism and… a system which robs a people of their dignity, that keeps people poor and marginalised, and that fails to deliver services to the community must once and for all be dismantled,” Pringle said.

The UPP political leader drew a sharp contrast between Alex Browne and his expected opponent, Randy Baltimore saying the former senator “understands and subscribes to the politics of empowerment and decency, respect not retribution.”

He added that Browne “lives his faith, subscribing to the biblical precepts of whatever you do, do unto the least of these.”

Pringle described March 16 as the people’s opportunity to act, telling supporters that the constituency’s voters would “draw a line in the sand, turning their backs on the era of bombast and underrepresentation.”

“We organize, we move together, and we vote,” Pringle said, adding that victory was “certain as the sunshine in the sky.”

The UPP leader described the contest as a short campaign backed by what it calls a long vision for national renewal.