By Peter Richards
CASTRIES, St. Lucia (CMC) — They forgot to inform the voters in St. Lucia that the code is yellow in the Caribbean, and so on Monday, the “Mood is Red” prevailed as the St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) won a convincing second consecutive five-year term in office.
Supporters of the SLP had long indicated that they would ensure that the sweep by political parties using the phrase “yellow is the colde”, such as in Trinidad and Tobago, and more recently, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, would not be replicated here.
“First of all I would like to thank the people of St. Lucia for conducting what was a very decent election, an election free from violence and this is testimony of the maturity of our people and the maturity of our democracy.
“I want to thank the members of the St. Lucia Labour Party, the executive, the cabinet, the men and women in the constituency groups, who worked hard, who worked tirelessly that this victory happened,” a jubilant Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre told supporters after the preliminary results showed that the party was on course to better the 13-2 victory it recorded in the 2021 general election.
“This victory belongs to them and I really want to thank them,” Pierre said, congratulating the leader of the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP), Allen Chastanet, who appeared to be the lone successful candidate for his party.
Pierre, 71, said that he was congratulating the 65-year-old Chastanet “because we think there is a role for the opposition so we could let the fine traditions of democracy prevail”.
Chastanet has not made any public statement regarding the outcome of the election, and political commentator and newspaper columnist, Rick Wayne, speaking on a television programme here on Monday night, said the former prime minister should now consider his political future.
Wayne said Chastanet would now have to look at “giving up” the leadership of the party, having lost two consecutive general elections. In the 2021 general election, the UWP lost by a margin of 15-2 in the 17-member Parliament.
Pierre was critical of what he described as the “misinformation and propaganda” that had been a hallmark of the opposition politics over the last four and a half years, saying it led to the vilification of people as well as their family and friends, all in the name of politics.
“I wish the era of the last four and a half years never return to St. Lucia politics,” Pierre said, adding that the “misinformation and attacks on people” also led to the spoiling of “St. Lucia’s good name abroad and selling of St Lucia as a wasteland.
“I hope that never happens again,” he repeated, saying that he intends to be sworn in as prime minister “later this week” and the cabinet announced next week.
“Tonight, we are happy, I feel relieved,” Pierre said, thanking voters in the Castries East constituency for returning him as their parliamentary representative for a record sixth consecutive time.
The UWP had made corruption and mismanagement the theme of its campaign in the election that Pierre called almost one year ahead of the constitutional deadline. The opposition had been particularly critical of the management of the citizenship by investment (CBI) programme through which foreign investors are granted citizenship of the island in return for making a significant investment in the socio-economic development of the island.
They had singled out Deputy Prime Minister Ernest Hilaire over corruption allegations dating back to his stint as the island’s High Commissioner to London. But Hilaire prevailed when the matter was dismissed earlier this year by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice, the country’s highest and final court.
The SLP contested 15 seats as it did last time around, while supporting independent candidates and government ministers, Stephenson King and Richard Frederick. Both men won their seats by wide margins.
The other political party in the contest, the husband and wife team of the National Congress Party, as well as the six other independent candidates, failed to make any impression during the elections, losing their deposits.
The polls were monitored by observer teams from the Organization of American States and the CARICOM.
Whatever the Code red or yellow St. Lucia is following in the steps of SVG.
The days of Colonialism is over.
The 79-year-old Ralph Gonsalves is completely delusional from his massive election loss. Distance yourself from him and govern in peace. Do the right thing for the people, and all will go well.