United Progressive Party (UPP) leader Jamale Pringle has confirmed that Wayne Benjamin Marsh will not contest the St. Paul constituency for the party in the upcoming general elections, according to Antigua.news.

The UPP is expected to name a replacement candidate shortly.

Marsh, an attorney who had been serving as the party’s caretaker in St. Paul, is reportedly unwilling to renounce his United States citizenship — a constitutional requirement for eligibility to serve in Parliament in Antigua and Barbuda.

He had spent several years building support in the constituency and was widely seen as the UPP’s main challenger to incumbent MP E.P. Chet Greene of the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP).

The Constitution bars individuals who have pledged allegiance to a foreign state from serving in Parliament unless that allegiance is formally renounced.