The country’s 1981 constitution establishes a parliamentary system, with a governor general representing the British monarch as the ceremonial head of state. The prime minister is the head of government and is typically the leader of the majority party elected to Parliament. The ABLP leader, Gaston Browne, maintained his position as prime minister after his party won a narrow majority in the 2023 parliamentary elections.

The bicameral Parliament is composed of a 17-seat Senate, whose members are appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister, the opposition leader, and others; and the House of Representatives, whose 17 members are directly elected in single-seat constituencies, by means of a simple majority. Representatives serve five-year terms.

General elections were held in January 2023. The governing ABLP won 47 percent of the total vote and nine seats in the lower house, securing a third consecutive term in government with a narrow one-seat majority. The opposition UPP won 45 percent of the vote and six seats, while the remaining two seats were won by an independent candidate and a member of the Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM). The elections were generally deemed competitive and credible.

The Barbuda Council, the local legislature on that island, holds regular elections and nominates one member of the national Senate. One of the prime minister’s Senate nominees must also be a Barbudan.

Electoral laws are generally fair and are implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies. However, the electoral boundaries of Antigua and Barbuda have shifted only slightly since 1984. This has created a significant disparity in constituency sizes, which range from 1,258 voters in St. Phillip South to 5,440 voters in St. John’s Rural West.

Political parties can organize and operate freely. While there are several small political parties in the country, elections have been won by either the ABLP or the UPP since 1994. The first-past-the-post electoral system makes it very difficult for smaller, less well-established parties to gain representation in the House of Representatives.

There are realistic opportunities for opposition parties to increase their support or gain power through elections. Power has alternated frequently between the ABLP and UPP.

People’s political choices are generally free from the influence of nondemocratic actors. However, a lack of transparency for party and campaign financing has given rise to concerns about the potential influence of unknown domestic and foreign interests over political candidates.

Women are underrepresented in politics, and only one woman was elected to the House of Representatives in 2023. LGBT+ people are marginalized and face discrimination, affecting their ability to engage fully in political processes.

The elected prime minister, cabinet, and Parliament determine government policies. There are some concerns about the influence of businesses on policymaking.

Tensions between the central government and the residents and representatives of Barbuda have grown as the government has sought to weaken the Barbuda Land Act of 2007, which guaranteed that land on Barbuda was communally owned by Barbudans and that their consent was required for its purchase and development. The Barbuda Council and local residents have resisted the government’s plans to develop the island.

Government corruption remains a concern, and anticorruption laws are enforced unevenly. Authorities have been criticized for doing little to investigate local official wrongdoing in several high-profile cases.

The country’s Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Program and Permanent Residence Certificate, under which individuals can be granted citizenship or residency in exchange for a sizable business investment or contribution, have been scrutinized in recent years. In October 2023, the European Union (EU) raised concerns about the security implications of CBI programs in Antigua and Barbuda and four other Caribbean countries. It reported that 88,000 “golden passports” had been sold to individuals from Iran, Russia, China, and elsewhere. In response, the EU promised to revise its rules on visa-free travel from the five Caribbean states. Also in October, Antigua and Barbuda was placed on the EU’s list of noncooperative tax jurisdictions.

The government has gradually improved its accountability structures, but there are deficiencies in how the Public Accounts Committee and the auditor general operate. Public officials must disclose all income, assets, and personal gifts received in their official capacity in a confidential report to the Integrity Commission. Resource deficiencies have impeded the commission’s ability to investigate corrupt individuals. Despite the Procurement and Contract Management Act of 2011, concerns remain about public procurement—notably regarding the expertise of procurement officials, the completeness of documentation, and the fact that some applications are made retroactively, often with a requested waiver.

Press freedom is generally respected in Antigua and Barbuda. Criminal defamation was abolished in 2015. However, under the Sedition and Undesirable Publications Act, seditious libel is a criminal offense punishable by a maximum of two years in prison as well as fines. Journalists remain at risk of libel suits from politicians who object to their reporting.

Most media outlets are concentrated among a small number of firms affiliated with either the ABLP or the UPP.

The constitution provides for freedom of worship as well as the right to practice and change one’s religion, and these freedoms are generally respected. A law outlawing blasphemous language is not enforced.

Academic freedom is generally respected.

Individuals are generally free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics.

Freedom of assembly is guaranteed under the constitution, and the government generally respects this right in practice.

The country’s few nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are active, though inadequately funded and often influenced by the government. The NGO Women Against Rape was one of the plaintiffs in a successful 2022 case challenging the criminalization of same-sex relations.

Labor unions can organize freely and bargain collectively, though there are some restrictions on the right to strike. For example, workers providing essential services must give two weeks’ notice before a strike, and the International Labour Organization (ILO) has described the list of essential services as excessively broad. Strikes are rare in practice.

The constitution provides for an independent judiciary, which is generally respected by the government. In 2018, referendum voters rejected the adoption of the Caribbean Court of Justice as the country’s highest appellate court. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, based in London, consequently retains that role.

In recent years, the courts have increasingly asserted independence from the ABLP government, with the support of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

Constitutional guarantees of due process are mostly upheld. However, prisoners on remand often remain in jail for an average of three to four years before their cases are heard.

Residents of Antigua and Barbuda do not face any significant security threats. The number of homicides has risen in recent years, though the figure is still low for the region. There were 10 homicides in 2023, the same number as in 2022. Gun-related crimes have also increased in recent years.

Prisons are severely overcrowded, and conditions within them are poor. The occupancy rate in mid-2023 was more than 250 percent of official capacity.

The 2005 Equal Opportunity Act bars discrimination based on race, gender, class, political affinity, or place of origin. Nonetheless, discrimination against migrants from African countries and neighboring Caribbean countries does take place. There are no specific laws prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities. Mental health services require improvement, and people with physical disabilities are stigmatized and underemployed. Societal norms discourage women’s participation in some sectors of the economy, and few women hold leadership positions in businesses.

In 2022, the government ratified the ILO’s Violence and Harassment Convention. The document recognizes the right to work without experiencing violence and harassment, with an emphasis on abuses experienced by women in the workplace, as well as the effects of domestic violence on women’s ability to work.

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that elements of the country’s Sexual Offences Act were unconstitutional, effectively decriminalizing same-sex sexual relations and replacing certain gender-specific definitions in the law. In addition, the court held that a constitutional provision prohibiting discrimination based on sex also prohibits discrimination based on “gender identity, sexual character, and sexual orientation.”

There are no significant restrictions on individuals’ freedom to travel within the country or abroad, or to change their place of residence, employment, or education.

While property rights and private business activity are generally supported in law and in practice, many Barbudans have opposed ongoing attempts by lawmakers in Antigua to eliminate the communal land ownership system that has prevailed in Barbuda for almost two centuries, and instead establish private land ownership. Plans for large-scale private development have driven tensions between the Browne government and the Barbudan population and their representatives, whose concerns include the environmental impact of such development. The Browne government has threatened those who attempt to obstruct the plans with jail time.

Personal social freedoms are generally respected, including with regard to marriage and other personal status issues, though same-sex marriage and civil partnerships are not recognized. The Domestic Violence Act of 2015 strengthened punishments for perpetrators of domestic violence and laid out a process for victims to obtain an order of protection. However, domestic violence remains a serious problem.

The 2022 Sexual Offenders Registry Act established increased monitoring of convicted sex offenders and facilitated the sharing of information among jurisdictions.

Compulsory labor is prohibited by law, and government efforts to address human trafficking have improved, though they are still lacking in some areas. Antigua and Barbuda remains a destination and transit country for the trafficking of men, women, and children.

In March 2023, more than a dozen Cameroonians died in a migrant-smuggling attempt after their boat, which had departed from Antigua, capsized off the coast of St. Kitts. The Cameroonian migrants had originally arrived in Antigua on chartered flights from Nigeria, part of a flight route that was approved by the ABLP government in 2022 and promoted as a regional link between the Caribbean and West Africa. However, such flights appeared to have been used in a larger migrant-smuggling operation, and the route has since been closed. The government offered residency and work permits to several hundred Cameroonians who were stranded in Antigua as a result of the operation.