dropping to just 38% for the 1960 elections. Although they were defeated by the Progressive Labour Movement in 1971, the party regained power in 1976 (despite receiving fewer votes than the PLM) and remained the ruling party until 2004 under the leadership of Vere Bird and later his son, Lester Bird. During this period elections were considered to be neither free nor fair. After taking over from his father prior to the 1994 elections, Lester had promised to fight corruption. However, the elections that year remained neither free nor far, with no guarantee of secret balloting, a voter registration open to abuse and the voter roll being inflated by 25% with emigrants or deceased residents. Continued irregularities in the 1999 elections were noted by a Commonwealth observer group, which recommended the establishment of an independent Electoral Commission and year-round registration for elections. The Commission was set up in 2001 and the ALP's second period of dominance ended with defeat by the United Progressive Party in the 2004 elections. The UPP won a second term in office in 2009. However, in the 2014 general election, the Antigua Labour Party won 14 of 17 seats, while the ruling UPP won the other three seats. In the 2018 general election, held on 21 March, the ABLP won 15 seats, the UPP won 1 seat and the Barbuda Peoples Movement the seat for Barbuda. Latest election References External links Antigua Elections website Antigua and Barbuda Political Database of the Americas