CASTRIES, St. Lucia -- Unofficial results coming out of St. Lucia late last night showed a Labor Party upset for the Kenny Anthony government and the likely return of 81-year-old former prime minister, Sir John Compton, to the helm of the tiny Eastern Caribbean island.
St. Lucia journalist Frank Girard last night told HBN that based on initial, unconfirmed results following the close of polls, the United Workers Party, which Sir John had come out of retirement to lead into the election yesterday, has snapped up 12 seats. The ruling St. Lucia Labor Party apparently may regain only four to five of the 13 seat majority they had going into the Dec. 11 election. Anthony and the SLP were seeking a third consecutive term.
Yesterday morning, casting his ballot in the Castries South constituency, Anthony was confident of victory citing polls such as the Bill Johnson poll. Sir John for his part had denounced the poll as a “trick.” Johnson, who reportedly polled 1,200 St. Lucians between November 25 and 26 claimed the SLP would win 49 per cent of the votes compared to 32 per cent for the UWP.
Official results are set to be confirmed today in an election, which Girard said, was marked by huge voter turnout yesterday among the 134,000 registered voters. Going into the election, the HOT FM radio host stated there were concerns over allegations of corruption.
Among the rumors that had surfaced by claims that government received money for the campaign from Kuwait, which was lodged in a Miami bank in the name of the late tourism director, Desmond Skeete. Additionally, there were allegations that officials of the Ministry of Works tried to confiscate receipts of false contracts shortly before the election.
“St. Lucians are obviously fed up,” said Girard last night, adding that the initial results may have reflected the need by the majority across the across the island of 238 square miles for a change.
St. Lucia, with 60-70 percent functional literacy rate, has a budget of over EC$ 1.1. It’s largely dependent on tourism since the collapse of its banana sector.
