The St. Kitts-Nevis Observer :: The Federation's Poltically Independent News Source

Voters in St. Kitts and Nevis head to the polls today in what is expected to be one of the most factious elections in the nation’s history.

The St. Kitts Nevis Labour Party led by PM Dr. Denzil Douglas is seeking a fifth consecutive term, while the Opposition parties have formed an alliance to contest the elections.

The Opposition, Team Unity, is being led by Dr. Timothy Harris, a former senior minister in Douglas’ cabinet. He, along with the former Deputy Prime Minister Sam Condor broke away from the Labour Party two years ago and formed the People’s Labour Party.

PLP joined with the People’s Action Movement (PAM). PAM will be contesting 6 seats while PLP will contest two. On Nevis the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), a member of Team Unity, is aiming to capture all 3 seats on that island, having won two in the 2010 election over the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP). The NRP has officially joined with the Labour Party, as their sole MP in the last election was made a Cabinet Minister.

Labour has lost ground over the past two general elections, going winning all 8 seats in 2000, to 7 in 2004, to 6 seats in 2010. Having lost two of its most senior and popular candidates, the Party is clearly fighting an uphill battle.

Team Unity is not without its own set of problems, with PLP having to overcome the stigma of crossing over. They are hoping to gain an edge in those seats, Constituency 7 and 3, capitalizing off the split Labour votes and all the PAM votes.

Labour will likely capture its ‘safe seat’ in Constituency #6, while PAM will most likely hold on to Constituency #5 for a third consecutive election.

Several seats are considered marginal, namely Constituencies 1, 2, 4, and 8. In Constituencies #1 and #2, Labour Cabinet ministers are contesting against two PAM newcomers. In Constituency #4, Labour barely edged out PAM last election and in #8, Labour is running a new candidate versus a one-term PAM MP.

The polls opened at 6am and at some stations voters reported lining up for over 3 hours before being able to vote.

Election Observer missions from the OAS, Commonwealth, Caricom and local civil society organizations group are on the ground in various constituencies around both islands.

Persons are reminded to adhere to voting regulations including the ban of cell phones in the polling room, no fingernail polish or acrylic on the right pointing finger (voting finger) and valid picture identification.

So far there has been no report of violence or other incidents at polling stations, however some issues have been reported

PLP candidate Sam Condor told The Observer that in Boyds a new polling station was opened this morning without the electoral office giving him any prior notification.

He said since he had gotten no warning, he had to get an untrained agent to man the station.

The polling stations will be opened until 6pm.