BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WHILE most predict an imminent victory at the polls for the St. Kitts Nevis Labour Party, Washington ‘Washie’ Archibald is of the firm belief that if the People’s Action Movement “play their cards right” they could bag the majority of seats.
The controversial social commentator recently spoke in exclusivity with SKNVibes and, with the general elections drawing near, he outlined his predictions for the eight available seats in St. Kitts.
Archibald opined that the likelihood of the Labour Party representative for Constituency Number One, the incumbent Hon. Asim Martin, retaining his seat in the next elections is very slim.
“In Constituency Number One, I am backing Mr. Blanchette. He can’t be any worse than Asim Martin. And if the people of Newtown elect Blanchette, it will be the first time in the history of elections in St. Kitts that the people in East Basseterre will ever have elected a son of the soil. People in East Basseterre must become conscious of their own. We elect Dominicans, Nevisians and others. It is time to elect a son of the soil and give somebody from East Basseterre an opportunity to administer, to look after East Basseterre people and help in the administration of the country.”
His prediction for Constituency Number Two is that PAM candidate Roy Fleming would triumph over Labour candidate Marcella Liburd. He however stressed that Fleming must be ready for battle if he is to be victorious.
“Well, Number Two, I believe, will be a good fight but I really would like Fleming to win. But I hope he will have the fighting spirit to win. Central Basseterre is pivotal because of the large size of it and I believe that if the election was called with the present size of Central Basseterre, Mr. Flemming should be able to bring that in.”
Constituency Number Three, Archibald explained, would remain untouched with the incumbent Sam T. Condor retaining his seat. “In Three, I don’t think that Sam Condor can lose that yet. I don’t think he is ready to lose it…”
Much controversy surrounded polling in Constituency Number Four during the last general elections, which resulted in candidate for the Labour Party, Rupert Herbert, taking the seat by a mere 51 votes with 46 spoilt ballots. Archibald’s forecast is that Grant would be victorious at the polls.
“Mr. Grant came close to winning the last time. He only lost by 51. That seat should be his this time because the incumbent is leaving. With the experience of the last election at his disposal, he should not lose that seat this time.”
Regarding Constituency Number Five, which currently rests in the hands of PAM representative the Hon. Shawn K. Richards, Archibald said “that belongs to Shawn Richards already. Sandy Point has traditionally been a PAM stronghold. Even if they add it on to Newton Ground or Halfway Tree…I don’t think it will work…”
While he doesn’t believe that Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister of the Federation Dr. the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas could be easily ousted at the polls, his prediction is that certain development regarding the sale of lands could cause a slight shift in the minds of that constituency’s electorates.
“I am not so sure about this. I believe that that young fellow there should give Dr. Douglas a fight for his life and pin him down even in St. Pauls and see if he can being back some of those votes that are there scattering about the place, to win…I have not said the other candidate will win but he should pin down Dr. Douglas to fighting for his life. A good campaign could topple (Dr. Douglas) as stable as he thinks he is in Newton, Dieppe Bay and Saddlers. I know he will always win in the village of St. Pauls.”
The Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris, Labour candidate for Constituency Number Seven will not be uprooted, according to Archibald’s calculations. “I don’t think anybody will beat Timothy Harris. Not just now.”
In Constituency Number Eight, Archibald explained, Labour Party representative the incumbent Hon. Cedric Liburd is likely to be uprooted to give way to PAM’s candidate Eugene Hamilton.
“I will be very, very frank…I believe that Cedric is losing in Constituency Eight. It seems like that is Hamilton’s seat. It was supposed to be Hamilton’s seat in the last elections but after keeping us awake until almost 4:00 in the morning, the Supervisor of Elections suddenly awoke and said it’s giving great joy to announce that Cedric won the last box.”
The last general election was held in 2004 on October 25 and saw the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party winning seven of the eight seats with PAM capturing one. Archibald’s calculation suggests that in the space of five years, arising matters of State and other issues may have effected a shift in the election curve to the 5/3 advantage of the PAM.
