St Lucia PM dismisses calls for early general election

CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC – Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre has dismissed calls for a snap general election in St Lucia saying he will follow the constitutional requirements when announcing a date for the polls.

General elections were last held on July 26, 2021, with Pierre leading his St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) to a resounding victory, winning 13 of the 17 seats with two other successful candidates joining the government.

The other two seats were won by the United Workers Party (UWP).

There have been calls by the UWP for the government to call early elections complaining of increased crime and socio-economic hardships.

But Pierre told reporters that citizens should not to be carried away by power-hungry politicians who refuse to understand the right of the people to elect the government or remove it when the time comes.

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“I can assure you there are going to be no elections in St Lucia anytime soon. Elections are called by the Prime Minister,” he told reporters, adding “no one will ever be able to say to the Prime Minister, it has not happened before, it won't happen now, when to call elections.

“The Prime Minister will call elections and the Prime Minister will ensure that he follows constitutional requirements for elections. So all this disorder and this deliberate creation of trying to pretend there is a chaos and there is crisis in this country, that will not go anywhere. It will just keep the country back.

“I am calling on all St Lucians to disregard this power-hungry situation happening in this country,” Pierre added.