A time to mourn:Opposition party wants election postponed

CASTRIES (CMC):

The fledgling National Democratic Movement (NDM) Saturday called for the postponement of the November 28 general election as a result of the tragic vehicular accident last Thursday that claimed the lives of 19 people.

NDM leader and former government minister Ausbert D' Auvergne has been joined by the independent candidate, Janine Compton-Rambally, who represents the Micoud North constituency, from where the victims of the accident originated.

"The prime minister ought to consider moving the election to a date possibly in the New Year. We have a tremendous amount of people who will be in mourning in many communities, and there will be funerals of so many people all in a very short space of time.

"There is also a strain on the health sector, as there is only one pathologist on the island who will have to conduct the autopsies, and with less than 17 days before the election, some consideration should be given to pushing back the date of the election," Compton-Rambally said.

The daughter of the late former prime minister Sir John Compton, and founder of the ruling party, said she would raise the issue with Prime Minister Stephenson King.

D' Auvergne said the people of the country, and especially those families who were personally affected by the accident, should be allowed to grieve without the distraction of an election campaign.

"We hope they can find strength to deal with their grief," D' Auvergne said, adding that the magnitude of the tragedy and the details that accompany it require a complete divorce from the political process.

No reaction

So far there has been no reaction from the government or the main opposition St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) to the suggestion to postpone the elections.

Both the UWP and the SLP suspended campaigning last weekend and the government has declared three days of national mourning in respect of those killed when the minibus plunged off a cliff at Mount Sion in Choiseul, south east of Castries, last Thursday night. The passengers were returning from a funeral.

The police said they were continuing their search for two people who are still unaccounted for and may have been part of the group returning on the bus.