Prime Minister Gaston Browne says newly appointed Senator Kiz Johnson is on track to defeat incumbent MP Sherfield Bowen, arguing that fresh polling shows a significant shift in voter sentiment in St. Philip South.
Johnson won Thursday night’s ABLP primary with 167 votes, far outpacing her nearest challenger, who received 12. She was sworn in as a government senator less than 24 hours later.
Speaking in an interview with ABS, Browne described Johnson’s primary win as “an astonishing victory,” noting that she joined the race only “literally two weeks before the primary.”
“She came in literally two weeks before the primary and to have defeated a former minister and representative of the area and even another candidate who has been underground for the last three years, I think it’s an astonishing victory,” Browne said.
He added that turnout from key areas suggests strong electoral potential. “When I look at the support that she has gotten especially out of Freetown, it tells me that she’s going to be an extremely competitive candidate,” he said.
Browne told ABS that internal polling indicates a major decline in support for Bowen, the United Progressive Party representative who won the seat in 2023.
“In fact, from what we’ve seen — and we have the empirical evidence to prove because we polled the area — there has been a large swing away from the current representative,” Browne said.
He cited national economic pressures during the last election cycle as factors that aided Bowen then, but argued those conditions have shifted.
“He may have won because of the circumstances going into the last general elections in which there were a myriad of issues against us including high cost of living,” Browne said.
Browne concluded that, based on current indicators, “Kiz will definitely beat him.”
