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Ruling party declares victory following general elections in St Kitts

Published:Saturday | June 6, 2020 | 10:39 AM
St Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris - Contributed photo

Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris Saturday said that it appears that his coalition Team Unity administration will be returned to power with a “resounding victory” after the three-party team won eight of the nine seats declared to date.

Harris, who comfortably won his Basseterre Constituency Number 7 seat, said “we have a number of seats not yet called but the projections are that we will return to government with a substantial increase in the number of seats”.

The coalition comprises Harris’s People’s Labour Party (PLP), the People’s Action Movement (PAM) and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), with the latter winning all three seats on the island of Nevis, the first time any political party has done so in federal elections, defeating the Nevis Reformation Party (NFP).

The CCM also controls the Nevis Island Administration (NIA).

The PLP’s newcomer Akilah Byron-Nisbett won the west Basseterre seat, defeating Konris Maynard of the main opposition St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), whose only victory to date is that of its leader, Dr Denzil Douglas, who comfortably extended his winning streak to eight in St Christopher Number 6 by comfortably defeating the PLP’s Kevin Williams by a1, 563 to 476.

“This will be history in the making. It will be the first time since adult suffrage that West Basseterre will leave the labour party. Equally significant Akilah Byron-Nisbett will be the first female elected by the West Basseterre constituency and join the ranks of only a few women to have made it to Parliament as elected representatives,” Harris said.

Harris told supporters that the projections show Ambassador Jonel Powell “will be returned as the official representative of Central Basseterre” where he is challenging the SKNLP’s chairman, Marcella Liburd.

The preliminary results in that constituency show PAM’s Powell receiving 1, 654 as against 1, 422 for Liburd, a seasoned legislator.

The results also showed that Harris had comfortably won his Constituency Number 7 seat, polling 1,870 votes as compared to 607 for Leon Netta Nelson of the SKNLP, while the CCM  headed by Premier Mark Brantley had won all three seats on the island of Nevis.

Brantley received 1,689 votes as against 1,155 for Dr Kelvin Daley of the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) to win Nevis Constituency Number 9, while in his third attempt the CCM’s Alexis Jeffers has secured victory in Nevis Constituency Number 11 over the NRP’s Patrice Nisbett by a margin of 1,107 to 910.

In the other seat on Nevis, the CCM’s Eric Evelyn received 710 votes to 167 for Bjorn Hanley to win Nevis constituency Number 11.

The other victorious Team unity winners were PAM’s Shawn Richards and Lindsay Grant.

Richards polled 1,296 votes as against 721 for SKNLP’s Kenny Douglas to win St.Christopher Number 5, while Grant won St Christopher Number 4 by polling 1,284 as against 933 for Steve Wrensford.

The lone independent candidate in the election could only muster 11 votes and lost his deposit.

There are 11 seats at stake in the elections and in the 2015 poll, Team Unity won seven seats.

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