In what is hopefully the last general election in a busy electoral season in the CARICOM bloc for this year, voters gave the incumbent St. Lucia Labor Party (SLP) a resounding victory in general elections held on Monday, Dec. 1 handing the party all but one of the 15 constituency seats in parliament.
The victory vanquished the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) of former prime minister Allen Chastenet, leading to calls for his immediate resignation and a rebooting of the party to ensure its continued viability.
In winning 14 of the 15 seats, the SLP has now broken the one-term jinx that had plagued the Eastern Caribbean nation since 2001. The victory has also allowed SLP Leader and Prime Minister Philip Pierre to become the longest-serving parliamentarian in local history, with a seventh consecutive constituency reelection.
The elections were held just days after voters in nearby St. Vincent and the Grenadines offered the same treatment to the Unity Labor Party (ULP) of long-serving former prime minister Ralph Gonsalves, handing the main opposition New Democratic Party of historian Godwin Friday a similar 14-1 victory.
Gonsalves, 79, is the only UWP candidate to win a seat. And like its neighbor, Chastenet will be the only opposition lawmaker across the aisle from government colleagues as he carries the lone UWP seat.
“I want to thank the people who worked with me, and the people who caused that victory to be possible. It is because of them, they are the ones who made that victory possible,” a jubilant Pierre said as results poured in. He has been the lawmaker for Castries East since 1997.
“There are some people who have worked with me in my campaign from 1997 and they’re still there with me. I want to thank all of them, I want to thank my family, I want to thank the men and women of the Saint Lucia Labor Party.”
PM Pierre has stated that he will finalize the composition of his cabinet by Friday and ensure that his swearing-in ceremony is also completed by then.
“So right now, we have work to do. We have to move forward together because this country is on the right trajectory, and we have to move forward.”
As celebrations continue PM Pierre says he will keep a campaign promise to offer St. Lucians a day free of sales taxes. Public servants will also receive retroactive back pay in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the year 2025 represents one of the busiest electoral years in history, with completed elections in nearly a dozen countries so far, with contests already held in Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad, Belize, Bermuda, Anguilla, Suriname, Curacao, The Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, St. Vincent, and now St. Lucia.
