Say what you want, unless there are substantial changes to the constitution, political parties and politicians in St. Kitts and Nevis will continue to form alliances with political parties or politicians on either island which gives them the advantage.
To gain the advantage, Eugene Walwyn, leader of the United National Movement of Nevis joined the Labour Government in 1966 as Attorney General.
In 1980, to forge ahead and bury Labour, the alliance of PAM and NRP held the seat of Government until it was broken by CCM in 1992.
In 1993 when CCM failed to form an alliance with PAM or Labour on St. Kitts, the “neutral” stalemate resulted, saw the electorate of St. Kitts giving the Labour Party an overwhelming mandate to Govern in 1995.
The strong call for secession and a down right refusal to align or partner with the new Labour Government cost CCM the Government of Nevis to NRP in 2006.
Knowing the advantage of an alliance, NRP was not about to let this opportunity go down the drain. On return to power in 2006, an obvious alliance with the Labour Government became the most sensible way forward.
PAM and CCM clearly hate this new NRP approach, but what can they offer in opposition? To succeed and make and impact on Nevis, NRP has no intentions of being confrontational with the Labour Government as exhibited before by the CCM Government. To do so runs the risk of hampering much needed projects for Nevis which, according to the constitution, must get the endorsement of the Federal Government to materialize. Instead by using the old strategy of alliance coupled with its new philosophy of "consultation and not confrontation" with the Labour Government is paying dividend for NRP. In fact, the results at the polls on July 11, 2011 is indicative of this alliance.
Historically, NRP always aligns itself with PAM. We saw this in 1980 and again in 1993. However, the elections of 2006 saw NRP clearly departing from this strategy by aligning itself with its long time political rival (the Labour Government) in the interest of the overall economic and social development of Nevis.
Those who wish to see the end of political alliances must agitate for change of the constitution. For example, such change must result in fairness and equity for both islands. St. Kitts must have the right to secede as well as the right for its own Local Government like Nevis. In this way, there would be no need for alliance to hold on to political power in St. Kitts or Nevis.
For now, say what you want, under the current constitution political alliance will always remain one of the primary strategies for political parties and politicians in St. Kitts and Nevis to seize the advantage or to get ahead of their political opponents.
