BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE leadership of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) has expressed satisfaction with its recent election victory, even though the party holds one seat less than it did previously.
“It was a comprehensive victory. You could not call it anything else,” stressed Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas. “In fact, my only regret is that Dr. Norgen Wilson and Cedric Liburd will not be able to help us form the government.”
The SKNLP won six of the eight St. Kitts electoral seats in Monday’s (Jan. 25) election, a victory that marked its fourth consecutive term in government. Opposition the People’s Action Movement (PAM) had to settle for the remaining two seats, an improvement over its performance in the 2004 election, but still short of PAM Leader Lindsay Grant’s prediction that it would form the next administration.
PAM announced on Wednesday (Jan. 27) that it would challenge the results in Constituencies One, Two and Four, where its candidates lost by 241, 431 and 29 votes, respectively.
Although PM Douglas was very firm about his opinion on the victory, Labour Party Chairman Dr. Timothy Harris did not share his leader’s decisive view. Instead, the Constituency Seven representative said the loss of two seats was “a moment of disappointment” in the campaign and would require a “moment of reflection”.
“It is not a complete victory because that would have been all eight seats. To the extent that we have one seat less, it means there was a shift in the support for the party and we didn’t perform as well as we had projected. It became close in several seats, some might say too close for comfort. But, nonetheless, overall we managed to retain the government,” Harris noted.
He added that the party would still need to do a post-mortem and examine the performances in each constituency.
However, SKNLP Deputy Leader Sam Condor agreed with Douglas’ assertion, stating that the mere fact that the party would form the government and didn’t have to seek a coalition was testament to its strength.
He expressed confidence that the outgoing Constituency Eight representative would still manage to make a meaningful contribution to the country.
“Really, losing a seat in a fourth term is to be expected. But I am a little sad that Mr. Liburd won’t be with us. I don’t know anyone who works as hard. He’s served his constituency well, and by his own nature, he’s going to rebound,” said Condor.
Meanwhile, the SKNLP is moving ahead in its goal of establishing the next government, as PM Douglas announced he would name his Cabinet of Ministers by Sunday (Jan. 31).
