ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Feb 13 2017 – One year ago, Joanne Massiah, the parliamentary representative for the All Saints East & St Luke, was among those considering running for the leadership of the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP).
But on Monday, the UPP announced that it had formally expelled her from the party after months of acrimony that saw her being side-lined by the party in and out of the Parliament.
The UPP said that, Massiah, who was being touted as the first woman to attempt to lead the party, was expelled after the party’s Disciplinary Council met on Sunday.
She had already been removed from the list of UPP candidates to contest the next general election due in 2019.
In January 2016, Massiah said she had entered the race to succeed former prime minister Baldwin Spencer at the “urgings of the party faithful, after much prayer, broad-based consultation and sober reflection as well as through a process of objective assessment of the legacy of the UPP and the overwhelming sense of duty to introduce the country to a different type of politics.”
Former finance minister Harold Lovell has since been elected as UPP leader.
