Two neighboring nations in the Eastern Caribbean are preparing to hold general elections before the end of the year, making 2025 one of the busiest years on record for polls, officials said.
The latest is St. Lucia, where Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre addressed the nation late Sunday, naming Dec. 1 as the date islanders will vote for a new government and parliament. Nomination day for parties to expose and present their lists of candidates to electoral officials is Nov. 21. Parliament will be dissolved on Monday, Nov. 10.
Last month, five-time Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent named Nov. 27 as the date when electors in the federation, comprising a string of islands in the Grenadines, will vote for a new government and parliament. The current parliamentary session ends on Monday of this week.
Gonsalves, 79, is striving to win a sixth consecutive five-year term as leader of his Unity Labor Party (ULP). He is already the elder statesman among his peers in the region, having first won general elections back in 2004. The closest to him is Roosevelt Skerrit in Dominica, who became head of government back in 2004.
His ULP will come up against the New Democratic Party (NDP) of main opposition leader Godwin Friday. The ULP has nine of the 15 seats in parliament.
“It is now decision time for our free and democratic people in free and fair elections for you to choose between the ULP and the NDP,” Gonsalves said as polls show that the result can go either way this time.
Meanwhile, PM Pierre in St. Lucia is betting on his cabinet’s achievements to maintain power.
“Confident that we have delivered what we have promised and the need to carry on the normal business of the government,” he said. “Today I advised the governor general to dissolve the Parliament of St. Lucia, tomorrow, Monday, Nov. 10, and to issue writs of elections to pave the way for the general election,” he said.
Pierre’s St. Lucia Labor Party (SLP) will face off against the United Workers Party (UWP) of former Prime Minister Allen Chastanet. “The bell has finally been rung. Freedom Day is Dec. 1, 2025- We are ready,” he stated on his social media page. The SLP owns 13 of the 17 seats but is expected to lose a few to a resurgent UWP.
So far this year, elections have been held in Trinidad, Suriname, Belize, Anguilla, Curacao, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, St Lucia, and St. Vincent. Now, St. Lucia and neighboring St. Vincent are about to be added to this list.
