Former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate Leroy McClean today officially signalled his intention to contest the May 24 general election as an independent.
McClean, who recently lost his bid to carry the DLP's banner in St John, announced plans to contest the DLP stronghold as an independent after paying in his $250 deposit to the Treasury.
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George Pilgrim (right) was recently selected ahead of Leroy McClean (left) to carry the DLP banner in St John.[/caption]
However, McClean, who previously represented the DLP in 1991 in the St George South constituency which he lost to Louis Tull (now Sir Louis) of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) told Barbados TODAY he remains a member of the DLP and does not intend to relinquish his membership.
The DLP has held the St John seat since 1958 when Errol Barrow – who would later become the island’s first Prime Minister – won 50 per cent of the votes in a by election on May 21, 1958 over Owen Allder of the BLP and independent candidate John Chenery.
The DLP's Mara Thompson did even better when she contested the 2011 by election following the death of her husband - then Prime Minister and former St John representative David Thompson - in 2010, sweeping through with 89 per cent on the votes, before holding on to the seat with a comfortable 79 per cent in 2013.
However, she recently announced she was bowing out of active politics with DLP General Secretary George Pilgrim subsequently named as her replacement.
The post McClean to run in St John as an independent appeared first on Barbados Today.