Don Anderson | Team Unity wins second term in St Kitts and Nevis

The Coalition Team Unity (TU) government, led by Dr Timothy Harris, retained its hold on the government in St Kitts and Nevis with a resounding 9-2 victory in elections held on June 5. It increased its seat count from seven, which it won in the 2015 election. In those elections, TU unseated the St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party, led by Dr Denzil Douglas.

Douglas had been in office for close to 20 consecutive years, from 1995. The 2020 win represented a whopping nine per cent point swing towards Team Unity from the 2015 election. Ironically, Dr Harris had been a prominent minister in the Labour government for many years until he was removed by Douglas in 2013.

Between 2013 and 2015, Harris was able to organise a coalition group calling itself Team Unity, which included his own People’s Labour Party (PLP), the main opposition People Action Movement (PAM), and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) in Nevis .

The elections were held under COVID-19 restrictions which limited campaigning to virtual contact and against a background of weekend lockdowns of the entire country for over two months. The COVID-19 pandemic in St Kitts was said to have been very efficiently managed by Harris and his team, with 15 confirmed cases and 15 recovered, a factor which no doubt aided the cause of the TU government. The election was announced on May 13 for June 5, giving all parties and entities 21 days to prepare.

In winning the nine seats, TU captured three of the previously held Labour seats, including constituency No. 3, which has historically never been held by any other party apart from Labour, as well as constituency No. 2 and constituency No. 11 in Nevis. The victory in constituency 11 in Nevis meant the first time that Nevis was sending all three members of the CCM to the federal government of St Kitts and Nevis.

TU lost one of its previously held seats, constituency No. 1. In the 2015 election, TU had a razor thin victory by four votes. Labour won this by 57 votes in this election, the only seat that did not reflect the significant national swing towards the TU government. This result is likely to be challenged in court as there were 96 rejected ballots, in an election where there were very few rejected ballots for the entire country.

In Constituency No. 6, held by Labour leader Douglas, there was a 14 per cent point swing towards TU, one of the largest across all constituencies, thereby reducing a 1,700 win by Douglas in 2015 to just over 1,000 in this election. In constituency No. 7 by contrast, the swing towards TU leader Harris was nine per cent points equal to the national swing towards his party.

Observer groups, including a CARICOM team, regarded the elections as fair and free. Despite this, Douglas has yet to officially concede victory to TU, citing various irregularities with the process and signalling his intent to challenge the results in some constituencies.

NO DIASPORA VOTES

It should be noted that unlike previous elections, no diaspora votes were allowed, citing restrictions on air travel occasioned by COVID-19 health and safety concerns. Some saw this as a strategic move by the Harris administration to eliminate the arrival of planeloads of persons normally supportive of Douglas’ Labour party. The general view, however, is that this would have been impractical with the country’s borders closed and minimum 14-day quarantine requirements in force.

Two members of Douglas’ Labour party contested the election under a cloud of uncertainty surrounding their citizenship. Douglas himself and Dr Hanley, it is alleged, both have dual citizenship. It is unlikely that this will be challenged in the immediate future. These were the only two winning candidates for Labour.

In a number of polls conducted there by my team from Market Research Services Limited over the years, including one in February 2020 and another five to 10 days before the June election, a number of factors has been cited as key positives that the people associated with the Harris-led TU government during its term of office and which contributed to their resounding win.

These included, amongst others:

• Very efficient management of the economy during its first term;

• Noticeable improvements to the housing of the people, with roofing assistance;

• Reduction in crime and violence;

• A welcome poverty-alleviation programme benefiting a significant number of persons;

• Long-overdue payout to the redundant sugar workers;

• A pledge of EC$120-million stimulus package to protect local businesses, jobs and the economy during the COVID pandemic.

It campaigned under the themes ‘Stronger, Safer Future’ and ‘One Good Term deserves another’. The TU clearly convinced the voting population that it was better to entrust their fortunes to them for another five years. It is interesting to note against this background that PM Harris has re-iterated his resolve, made at the time of taking office in 2015, to serve just 2 terms. He is a firm believer in this principle and is expected to relinquish the leadership of this coalition at the end of this second term of office. It is a reflection of his status within the coalition that his party, the PLP, has just two of the nine seats; the CCM in Nevis, three and the main party, PAM, four.

Don Anderson is the executive chairman of Market Research Services Limited and senior adjunct lecturer in research methods at The University of the West Indies, Mona.