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 poll date.
General elections were held here on July 26, 2021, with Pierre leading his St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) to a resounding victory. He won 13 of the 17 seats, and two other successful candidates joined the government. The United Workers Party (UWP) won the other two seats.
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 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.
“I assure you there will be no elections in Saint Lucia anytime soon. The Prime Minister calls elections,” 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 ensure that he follows constitutional requirements for elections. So all this disorder and this deliberate creation of trying to pretend there is chaos and a crisis in this country that will not go anywhere. It will just keep the country back.
“I am calling on all Saint Lucians to disregard this power-hungry situation happening in this country,” Pierre added.
Pierre has also expressed concern about the politically-influenced glorification of criminal activity.
“I am very concerned about glorifying crime in specific sectors for political reasons. The opposition always seems to be happy when things do not go right regarding crime.
“There seems to be a joy, you know. Instead of condemning criminality and saying to criminals that they are on the wrong path,” Pierre said, reminding reporters that his government had worked with a non-government organization, giving it EC$250,000 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) based on a budget to assist with crime suppression in depressed areas.
“The opposition in their desperation seemingly, and I make no bones about it, seemingly encouraged crime, criminality, and disorder for their own political motives,” Pierre told reporters.
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