St Kitts Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) Wins General Elections

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts/Nevis August 6, 2022 - The main Opposition St Kitts Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), led by Dr Terrance Drew, has won Friday’s General elections with a total of six seats out of the 11 in the National Assembly of the twin Island Federation.

St. Kitts Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) is heading back into office seven years after losing the elections in 2015. The six seats to be held by SKNLP will be held by Dr Terrance Drew, Geoffrey Hanley, Marsha Henderson, Konris Maynard, Samal Duggins, Dr Denzil Douglas. 

Preliminary figures released by the Supervisor of Elections, Elvin Bailey, more than 17 hours after the official close of polling on Friday night, showed that Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris was the lone successful candidate for his People's Labour Party (PLP).

#BREAKING: #NationalProjection: 5:30AM
We project that Dr Terrance Drew will be the next Prime Minister of St Kitts & Nevis - defeating 2 term incumbent Dr Timothy Harris pic.twitter.com/HD3lHLgkQg

— Kevz Politics ߇ﰟ粠(@KevzPolitics) August 6, 2022

Shawn Richards of the People's Action Movement (PAM) was also the sole winner for his party while Mark Brantley's Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) won all three seats in Nevis as it had done in the June 2020 general election to include Eric Evelyn and Alexis Jeffers.

The three parties had formed the coalition Team Unity administration that Harris led before he was forced to call the election three years ahead of the constitutional deadline after his Cabinet colleagues filed a motion of no confidence in him.

The SKNLP, led by the Cuban trained medical practitioner, Dr. Terrence Drew, who will become the Federation’s fourth prime minister, had campaigned on the need to liberate the country from the clutches of the coalition Team Unity government.

Drew polled the highest number of votes in the election, receiving 2,950, while Chesley Hamilton of the PAM got 895 and the PLP's Andrew Bass 761.

Among the victorious SKNLP candidates is former prime minister Dr. Denzil Douglas, who before the 2015 general election, had been among the longest serving leaders in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

During the campaign Douglas expressed his support for Drew, who took over the leadership of the party last year when Douglas stepped down after 33 years and 20 years as prime minister.

Douglas polled 1,926 votes as compared with 98 for PAM's Troy Flanders, 309 for Dr. Marc Williams of the PLP and three votes for Carlton Dupont. For his part, Harris received 1,266 votes as against 176 for PAM's Lincoln David-Pelle and 903 for the SKNLP's Leon Natta-Nelson.

St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party have presented strong plans and policies of advancement for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis, to include their seven pillars and the ways the SKNLP will improve the lives of the people in St. Kitts and Nevis and the country as a whole.            

The polls were monitored by observer teams from the Organisation of American States, led by Jamaica’s Bruce Golding as well as a six-member observer team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The Caricom Election Observation Mission (CEOM), headed by Commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Sase Gunraj.

The CEOM also includes Corey Greenidge from Barbados, Cecil Valies of Suriname, and Roslyn Khan-Cummings from Trinidad & Tobago. The observation team was mounted following an invitation from the government of the two-island federation on July 26 and was supported by Jhonson Alexandre and Alan Donawa of the CARICOM Secretariat.

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