Bird concedes defeat as Antiguan prime minister

PRIME Minister Lester Bird conceded defeat yesterday in a general election marked by corruption charges, ending a family dynasty that has dominated Antigua for half a century.

The Caribbean island's new leader, union leader Baldwin Spencer, danced a traditional jig to a calypso beat and promised to punish "crimes against the people".

With all votes counted, preliminary results showed Spencer's United Progressive Party swept to victory with 12 of 17 parliamentary seats. Mr Bird himself was unseated by Errol Cort, a former attorney general fired by Mr Bird in 2001.

Excited islanders took to the streets, with car cavalcades honking horns. "We have them now. Yes! Yes! Yes," people chanted, repeating an opposition campaign slogan.

Mr Bird refused to admit the defeat was caused by scandals that have centred on allegations of bribery, misuse of and missing funds in the national health insurance plan, and a 13-year-old girl's charges that he and his brother used her for sex and to procure cocaine.

Mr Bird, aged 66, denied the last charges and organised an inquiry that said there was no evidence.

"I think that the people have decided that it was a time for change," he said.

In anticipation, Mr Bird had workers remove boxes of "personal items" from his office over the weekend, drawing hundreds of protesters who accused him of removing incriminating documents. Mr Bird said that was "absolutely crazy".

Mr Spencer, aged 65, said "The destroyers of our democracy were on trial yesterday ... The abusers of our children, our women and our senior citizens."

He called for healing and reconciliation, but also warned "crimes committed against the people must be punished."

Mr Bird's party had campaigned on a record of 4% economic growth and 10% unemployment in an economy based on sagging tourism and an offshore banking and gambling industry critics say is corrupt.

While Antigua attracts up-market tourists, especially yachtsmen, the opposition says few benefits reach ordinary people. Nearly half the 70,000 islanders still use pit latrines.

Mr Spencer's party has pledged greater unemployment benefits and support for school uniforms and lunches.

At the last minute, a desperate Mr Bird promised to cut corporate tax from 40% to 25% long a sore point among natives who noted foreign investors who befriended the Birds got extraordinary tax concessions.

The Bird family had dominated politics on the island with 365 beaches here since the 1950s, when Vere Bird Sr was a revolutionary union leader defying British colonisers to demand higher wages for cane cutters. Bird led his country to independence in 1981.