The ruling Saint Lucia Labour Party’s coalition government retains Parliamentary control and flips the Choiseul/Saltibus seat in a historical 16-1 win. Chastanet is the only UWP MP to retain his seat, Micoud South.
The government of Saint Lucia’s commentary on the December 1st general election included the expert opinions of Dr James Fletcher, Edwin St Catherin, Rhyesa Joseph, Rahym Augustin-Joseph, and Teddy Francis.
As the results came through, the panel provided possible reasons why the Allen Chastanet-led Administration failed to capture the confidence of the Saint Lucian public.
Political analyst, Rahym Augustin-Joseph, said Chastanet’s apparent poor leadership and inability to convince the electorate of his candidates’ competence led to the UWP’s thrashing at the polls.
“The UWP’s strength in this election would have never been the leadership contest, but the people surrounding them, and hence why a collaborative team photo on the manifesto would have been good. But the second point is that, again, I don’t know that a leader of the opposition at many times could have walked and engaged in certain constituencies that were not particularly favourable to him. So, in Castries South, very little engagement did I see with Tommy Descartes. Especially if it is that you’ve gone after the Deputy Prime Minister so much, you would believe that you would be propping up,” he explained.
By contrast, Dr James Fletcher commended the political leadership of Philip J Pierre and said he was able to elevate the stature of the Labour Party in the hearts and minds of the electorate.
“He lifted his party; he was popular. Allen Chastanet did not do the same thing to his party. With all of the friction, antagonism – that had a serious, I believe, effect on the morale of the United Workers’ Party. And I do not believe Allen Chastanet in this election was an asset to his party,” Fletcher commented.
Historian and political scientist, Rhyesa Joseph, also made light of Chastanet’s performance as Leader of the Opposition, which was characterised by numerous walk-outs, outbursts and boycotts.
“But even in the beginning, from the onset, he was missing from Parliament, and when there were opportunities to stand [his] ground and to present meaningful contributions for [his] party… and there was always conflict. It left a lot to be desired. Already, you are in a minority. Your job is, despite not having the quantity to present, to make a quality opposition. Because in all democracies, people look towards the opposition to help guide decisions, to be a measure of the government.”
She added that Chastanet’s UWP took the wrong position on the St Jude Hospital, and it cost them dearly in the south.
“After 16 years, we finally saw, and this is very personal for me as a resident of Vieux Fort South, to finally have a finished hospital building to begin the commissioning stage. And even then. We did not see a moment of national unity that we needed from the opposition to take people forward. What we saw in the public light was misleading information, disinformation that told the public that the buildings were not finished and this is a gimmick. Other people and I from the South walked through these halls. We walked through, and we saw the people ourselves; people at the hospital working there who could have attested to the fact that their conditions were improved. So it was an insult not just to the people of the South, it actually put the integrity of professionals, the contractors, and medical officials, into disrepute.”
Prime Minister Pierre has indicated that he will be sworn in on Friday, December 5th.