‘That sun has set’ — Skelton Cline on Fraser’s re-election prospect
Political commentator and clergyman Claude Skelton Cline has argued that there is an opportunity for a new leader to emerge in the Third District after the upcoming general elections next year.
“I think Honourable Fraser, a good man, has done all he’s ever going to do in that district. He’s served them, he’s served them well for some 20-odd years now,” Skelton Cline said on his Honestly Speaking show yesterday.
But while considering the prospects of some potential candidates in the electoral districts, Skelton Cline did not stop at commending the veteran legislator for his service in the district.
“I think that sun has set and there’s an opportunity in the Third District,” Skelton Cline stated.
Skelton Cline suggested that, because of the opportunity that is being presented, Dr Arliene T. Penn should run for office in that district. He also noted that Penn’s brother, Aaron Parillon, had demonstrated an interest when he previously ran for the Third District seat and lost to Fraser in 2019.
Fraser has been the incumbent Third District Representative for more than 20 years after first being elected in 1999 as a Virgin Islands Party (VIP) candidate along with former Premier Andrew Fahie and others. The district was previously represented by Oliver Cills and once, from 1983 to 1986 by Fraser’s brother Earl Fraser.
Fraser’s slimmest margin of victory over the years was a 26-vote triumph over Michael Thomas of the National Democratic Party (NDP), when he first ran for office. His second largest victory margin was a 225-vote win at the 2019 polls as a Progressives United Party candidate, where he bested Arlene Smith-Thompson of the VIP and Parillon who ran on an NDP slate.
General elections are constitutionally due by mid-May of 2023, but Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley recently disclosed that his government has not yet decided on an election date.
But while considering the prospects of some potential candidates in the electoral districts, Skelton Cline did not stop at commending the veteran legislator for his service in the district.
“I think that sun has set and there’s an opportunity in the Third District,” Skelton Cline stated.
Skelton Cline suggested that, because of the opportunity that is being presented, Dr Arliene T. Penn should run for office in that district. He also noted that Penn’s brother, Aaron Parillon, had demonstrated an interest when he previously ran for the Third District seat and lost to Fraser in 2019.
Fraser has been the incumbent Third District Representative for more than 20 years after first being elected in 1999 as a Virgin Islands Party (VIP) candidate along with former Premier Andrew Fahie and others. The district was previously represented by Oliver Cills and once, from 1983 to 1986 by Fraser’s brother Earl Fraser.
Fraser’s slimmest margin of victory over the years was a 26-vote triumph over Michael Thomas of the National Democratic Party (NDP), when he first ran for office. His second largest victory margin was a 225-vote win at the 2019 polls as a Progressives United Party candidate, where he bested Arlene Smith-Thompson of the VIP and Parillon who ran on an NDP slate.
General elections are constitutionally due by mid-May of 2023, but Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley recently disclosed that his government has not yet decided on an election date.
