St Kitts & Nevis enters election week
Two years after leading his coalition Team Unity government into the office for a second consecutive time, Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris is facing the electorate on Friday, this time shedding the baggage of the two other political parties that helped his People’s Labour Party (PLP) into the corridors of power.
The coalition, comprising Harris’s PLP, the People’s Action Movement (PAM) and the Nevis-based Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), retained power in the June 2020 election, winning nine of the 11 seats in the 15-member Parliament.
The other two seats went to the main opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP). Under the Constitution of the twin island Federation, the other four legislators are nominated by the Governor General following the polls.
Last Tuesday, 34 people, including representatives from the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP), the Moral Restoration Movement (MRM) as well as two independents, were nominated to contest the elections.
“We are positive at this point; I think the momentum is clearly with the People’s Labour Party; we see the energy, we see the high participation of young people at all our events. We have basically taken over…and they are energised, and…we believe the momentum will take us through on Friday in a very big way,” Harris, an accountant, told reporters at the end of a PLP rally this weekend.
But the Barbados-based regional political analyst and pollster Peter Wickham does not believe any of the political parties contesting the election will win outright, which could lead to horse-trading.
“There is every possibility of the results being indecisive, and my feeling is that this is not what Kittitians want, but there is every possibility that people will go out and vote with their heart and then when you vote with your heart in terms of who you love it could be a split down the middle.
“The other possibility is that people could vote with their heads seeing that they realise that look this is a reality and no clear alternative and you will have horse trading and in the context of Caribbean politics is not unusual,” said Wickham.
Local political analyst, Larry Vaughn, said there have never been three viable parties in an election race here, "and now it appears the politicking in St. Kitts-Nevis is very transactional, so the voter is looking for something”.
PAM, which has openly entered into a coalition with the CCM, is appealing to its supporters to rally around it and ensure victory on Friday.
“To those who may have strayed from the fold of the People’s Action Movement, I invite you to come back home to the party you truly love. Come back home to a warm welcome,” said PAM executive member Jonel Powell. At the same time, the island’s National Hero and former prime minister, Sir Kennedy Simmonds, told a PAM public meeting he was confident of victory.
“This election is easy; everybody is telling you it is hard. This election is easy, you know. If PAM people vote for PAM, PAM will win,” Sir Kennedy told cheering supporters.
But the SKNLP says it is also confident of regaining office, which it lost on 16 February 2015, when Harris, fired by then Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas, helped form the coalition Team Unity.
“The time has come for the tragic story of a declining nation to end. The time has come for our people to choose a better way, A Better Way with the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party. You have the power to bring about the change you seek, need and desire to transform our Federation into one of the best places to live, work and retire. Never forget your power,” said Dr Terrence Drew, leading the SKNLP into a general election for the first time after Douglas stepped down last year.
“On Election Day, with just one neat X on the ballot paper, you can usher in a new day and better way that will take our country to a higher level – a higher level of access, a higher level of equity, a higher level of opportunity, a higher standard of living and a higher quality of life.”
“The people of St. Kitts and Nevis have suffered for far too long under the pressure and disgrace of a creeping dictatorship,” said Drew.
Prime Minister Harris was forced to dissolve Parliament on May 10 after PAM. CCM legislators, who together accounted for seven of the nine seats in the Cabinet, had filed a motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister, who scuttled that move by firing the dissidents and indicating that he would announce a date for the polls within the stipulated 90 day period.
Harris took the opportunity afforded by the constitution to put in place a make-shift Cabinet and conducted the affairs of the Federation for just shy of 90 days.
In June, the St Kitts Christian Council; the St Kitts Evangelical Association; the Nevis Christian Council; the Nevis Evangelical Association; The St Kitts Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce; and the St Kitts and Nevis Bar Association sent a letter to him urging him to name a date for the elections.
“You have therefore constituted a Cabinet with less than one-third of elected representatives of the people. Whilst it may be within your constitutional right, as Prime Minister, to do so, please be reminded that we are a people who have expressly stated in our Constitution that we believe in a true democracy where the voice of the people is paramount”.
The Churches and the NGOs noted that there are also public concerns about “unusual” activity taking place at the electoral office, urging that “there should be greater emphasis on the peaceful and orderly conduct of the impending election.
“Neutrality on the part of the Electoral Commission, electoral officials, the Royal Saint Christopher and Nevis Police Force and the Defence Force is paramount. The Electoral Commission has ultimate control of the election, and there should be no interference with its operations.”
The Organisation of American States (OAS) is the only named regional or international observer team that has indicated it will be here monitoring the polls. Former Jamaica prime minister Bruce Golding will head the 11-member team.
The OAS said the team “will work in-person and remotely to observe areas such as electoral organisation and technology, electoral justice, political finance and the political participation of women.”
The Chief of Mission will arrive on Tuesday and will meet with government officials, electoral authorities, political leaders, candidates, representatives of civil society and other relevant stakeholders, the OAS said.
The elections are taking place amidst widespread allegations of possible voting irregularities and the maintenance of the protocols that had been put in place to restrict the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The government said while it is prepared to provide additional technical and human resources to deal with a possible influx of returning nationals for the August 5 general elections, it has nonetheless accepted the recommendations of the COVID-19 Task Force that there be no changes to the existing protocols put in place to stem the spread of the virus.
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