Lindsay F. Grant

Attorney-at-Law Lindsay F. Grant has announced that at next month’s party caucus he will seek a third term as Leader of the main opposition party in St. Kitts and Nevis, the People’s Action Movement (PAM).

The 45th Annual PAM Convention and Caucus will be held on July 11th at the Royal St. Kitts Hotel. The event is usually held in March or April, and its postponement had been the subject of much speculation in local political forums.

Now that Grant has made his intentions clear, the preponderant question becomes: what of the five candidates reportedly involved in the alleged attempted coup?

Rumors of dissent in the PAM camp were rampant recently, following calls for Grant to step down as the party leader. According to informed sources, Glenroy Blanchette, Roy Flemming, Louie Williams, Bernard Welsh, and Junie Hodge presented Grant with a letter last month stipulating he (Grant) resign his position as party chief.

Blanchette and Flemming admitted to the challenge, however Grant denied any dispute involving his leadership, saying he had the full support of the party’s executive and members. The PAM leader did confess that certain concerns had been voiced.

“As with all political parties and organizations there have been some concerns raised by certain individuals, and those concerns have been dealt with by the executive and also the rank and file of the party through constituency meetings,” he said.

A source close to the party told The Observer that the five had in fact signed the letter asking for Grant to immediately step down and had done so without any discussion with the Executive. It was further relayed that at a subsequent constituency meeting, Blanchette, who was branded as the “mastermind”, was unofficially expelled from the party, and that a new candidate would be elected at the upcoming caucus.

Blanchette could not be reached to comment on whether he would be up for re-election as the candidate for Constituency #1.

As it relates to the alleged internal conflict Grant would only say, “All reconciled and un-reconciled issues will be endorsed or decided at the annual Caucus and subsequent Convention.”

Speculations abound that the leader of the incumbent Labour Party, Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas had secretly met with the five PAM candidates and instigated the attempted overthrow. Dr. Douglas and two of the candidates have denied the meeting(s).

Grant is currently in litigation surrounding an election petition challenge arising from his narrow loss to Labour ‘freshman’ Glenn Phillip in the January 25th general elections. It was Grant’s second loss as the representative for Constituency #4.

While Grant and his party are “keenly looking forward” to the convention, it is presumed that critics and supporters will be scrutinizing the day’s proceedings and the event’s outcome for any change to the party’s eight candidacies.