| It was a decisive victory
for the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party on Monday when
the voters re-elected the political faction for a fourth
consecutive term in office. The January 25th Election
Day was deemed one of the most anticipated and observed
elections to be held in the Federation in recent times
and at the end of the tallying early Tuesday morning,
Labour was declared the winner having won 6 of the 8
electoral seats in St. Kitts.
The People's Action
Movement won 2 seats, up one from the 2004 general
elections where it was victorious in only one constituency.
On Nevis, the outcome was the same as the 2004 elections
with Concerned Citizens' Movement winning 2 of the
3 federal seats against Nevis Island Assembly incumbent
Nevis Reformation Party.
The polls opened at
6 am Monday and intermittent showers and strong winds
did not deter voters who lined up for hours waiting
to cast their ballots. Several persons called in to
radio talk shows and complained about the extensive
waiting periods, claiming they were forced to queue
up for more than 4 hours.
"I got to my
polling station just before 9 and met people in line
who said they had been standing there since after
7 am. I did not get to cast my vote until around 12
and there were only about 20 persons in front of me;
I mean how long does it take to make the X?"
one agitated voter told The Observer.
Other complaints voiced
were that older persons were made to stand in line
for lengthy periods and some articulated concern that
they were made to dip their finger in the voters ink
and exit the booth before seeing their ballots dropped
into the boxes. Some of the polling stations accepted
voters past the 6 pm cut off time including some in
Sandy Point that went more than two hours past the
deadline.
Leroy Benjamin, Supervisor
of Elections, began announcing results late Monday
evening via live radio and television, informing of
the figures from each polling station in each constituency
as they were communicated to him. In the early hours
of Tuesday, he announced that the Labour Party had
won in Constituencies numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7,
and that PAM and taken Constituency #5. Nevis #10
went to CCM while NRP was declared winner of constituency
#11.
The populace keenly
awaited the results of Constituencies #8 and #9.Just
after 8 am on Tuesday Benjamin declared CCM winner
in Nevis #9 and PAM victor in Constituency #8.The
results for the 2010 elections are as follows: Constituency
#1- Labour candidate newcomer and sole female candidate
for the elections Marcella Liburd won with 1777 votes
while PAM candidate Roy Fleming picked up 1536 votes;
Constituency #2- Labour candidate Earl Asim Martin
held onto his seat with 1907 votes beating PAM candidate
Glenroy Blanchette by 431 votes; Constituency #3-
Labour's Sam Condor more than doubled the votes cast
for PAM candidate Bernard Welsh, capturing 1306 votes
compared to Welsh's 545; Constituency #4- Labour's
newcomer Glenn 'Ghost' Phillip edged out PAM leader
Lindsay Grant 1185 to 1156; Constituency #5- PAM's
Shawn Richards retained his seat, defeating another
of Labour's 'new kids on the block' Dr. Norgen Wilson
1128 to 985; Constituency #6- Labour leader Prime
Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas won by a convincing margin,
capturing 1905 to PAM's newcomer Junie Hodge's 179;
Constituency #7- Labour's Dr. Timothy Harris was returned
to government winning with 1635 votes over PAM's Louis
Williams' 570; Constituency #8- PAM's Eugene Hamilton's
2017 ousted Labour candidate Cedric Liburd who received
1986 votes; Nevis #9- CCM candidate Mark Brantley
defeated NRP's Hensley Daniel 1749 to 1601; Nevis
#10- CCM's Vance Amory scored 665 votes to hold onto
his seat against NRP's Patricia Hanley who garnered
225 votes; Nevis #11- NRP candidate Patrice Nesbitt
retained his seat, defeating CCM's Alexis Jeffers
979 votes to 714.
Rumors of a possible
coalition government between the St. Kitts political
parties and those on Nevis were tossed about leading
up to polling day, however with Labour winning 6 of
the 11 federal seats no such partnership could materialize.
The 2010 voters' list saw a drastic decrease following
the electoral reform registration confirmation process,
going from 38865 registered voters in 2004 to this
election's 32808. 21293 persons cast their votes on
Monday with Labour securing 12686 or 60% of the votes
to return to power.
The winning parties
celebrated their victories with mini motorcades through
various villages on St. Kitts and Nevis following
the announcements of voting results. PAM also celebrated
picking up a second opposition seat as opposed to
last term's single constituency win. A grand procession
is being planned for the SKNLP later this week.
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