News, Top Story

ELECTION HEAT IS ON – Candidate Selection Gains Momentum

Image of Francisco Jn. Pierre
Francisco Jn. Pierre

CANDIDATES selection in both the main political parties, the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) and the United Workers Party (UWP) is accelerating, with an anticipated general election this year.

And although neither side has publicly claimed an official start to their political campaign the tone of recent public meetings – the UWP last Sunday in Gros Islet and the SLP last Thursday in Dennery village – suggests the contest is truly on.

“This is the first in a series of public meetings,” an SLP press release noted.

Both parties have held National Council meetings for the year, the UWP last Sunday in Gros Islet and the SLP last Saturday in Soufriere where specialized officers were selected to complete its national executive.

The endorsement of multiple candidates, in some cases, almost at the same time, supports the view that both parties are about to unleash their election machines on the populace.

MONTOUTE
MONTOUTE

The UWP, late last year for instance, endorsed Dominic Fedee as their candidate for the Anse la Raye/Canaries Constituency and Mary Isaac, for the Castries South Constituency.

Both individuals now sit in parliament as senators, with Fedee, as the newest member of that chamber.

Further endorsements were to follow where in a single swipe, last Sunday in GrosIslet, the UWP endorsed three persons in the constituencies of Gros Islet, Dennery South and Laborie.

Lennard “Spider” Montoute, who lost to the SLP’s Emma Hippolyte in the last general elections was endorsed last Sunday. His candidacy was in doubt for more than a year due to interest shown by a young aspiring public servant, Jeana Corneille who indicated a desire to represent that constituency under the UWP banner.

Also endorsed last Sunday by the party was Edmund Estephane for Dennery South. He is a sitting parliamentarian on in the Lower House of Parliament, having won the constituency in the last general election.

FransicoJn Pierre, a new comer to elective politics, was also endorsed by the UWP for the Laborie constituency.

“Those candidates have demonstrated true dedication to service over the years and the UWP is pleased to welcome them each on board to represent the party in the upcoming general elections,” a statement from the party said.

The SLP has also endorsed a number of persons as candidates for certain constituencies.

Jerome Gedeon who was named by the party last December as their candidate for Dennery South last week made his maiden public address to voters in the constituency. He will officially be launched as the party’s candidate on February 29..

GEDEON
GEDEON

Also endorsed at the same time as Gedeonwere Herbert Roserie for Micoud North and Joachim Henry for Castries Southeast.

Also of interest within the SLP were the announcements by two of their sitting parliamentarians not to contest the upcoming general elections, namely Dr. Robert Lewis and Desmond Long.

The announcements were somewhat surprising, to say the least, as neither had given any sign of wanting to step down.

However Lewis, the incumbent for Castries South claimed that it was always his intention to step down after serving two terms in parliament.

Dr. Long’s decision caught many by surprise given the enthusiasm he displayed at his launching in Anse La Raye in 2011.

Long, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, said at a press conference last week that his decision not to contest the Anse La Raye/Canaries constituency this time around was primarily because his medical practice had suffered too much.

He said: “When in 2011 I entered elective politics I was a young medical doctor with an equally young private practice and it was my hope that I could successfully navigate the rigours of political representation whilst simultaneously building my medical practice. In reality, the marriage of the two has not worked out as I expected and has resulted in me not being able to give the constituents of Anse La Raye/Canaries the level of care and attention I would have liked.

ROSERIE
ROSERIE

“Mine is a single doctor practice which has become more and more demanding of my time over the last two years or so. A significant part of that medical workload also involves providing free services to constituents of Anse la Raye/Canaries. Over time it has become increasingly more difficult to straddle the pressure of my practice with the job of a Parliamentary Representative. Whereas I retain the commitment to assisting those from my constituency in need of my medical help I must make way for the Labour Party to find someone who can devote the time and attention which the people of Anse La Raye/Canaries deserve. Having given my future in elective politics careful consideration, I am now satisfied that I would not be in a position to give 100% of what is required during the upcoming election campaign,” Long said.

He denied that he was being pushed out by the party or that anyone from the party had called on him to step down or not to contest the upcoming elections.

What made Dr. Long’s statement rather perplexing was his answer in the affirmative when asked if he would reconsider his position if the constituency branch of the SLP was adamant that he was the one they wanted to represent them in the upcoming elections.

Micah George is an established name in the journalism landscape in St. Lucia. He started his journalism tutelage under the critical eye of the Star Newspaper Publisher and well known journalist, Rick Wayne, as a freelancer. A few months later he moved to the Voice Newspaper under the guidance of the paper’s recognized editor, Guy Ellis in 1988.

Since then he has remained with the Voice Newspaper, progressing from a cub reporter covering court cases and the police to a senior journalist with a focus on parliamentary issues, government and politics. Read full bio...

4 Comments

  1. /

    Jean Sente Lecee:

    Although the readers of this News Paper are St. Lucia’s most intelligent and sober-minded folk, I do not expect many of you to love me, for breaking these hard truths about how mis-educated many of you are, knowing nothing of your History that span a million years, your Language, your Religion, and of Course not even knowing your real names. When have you ever met a Chinaman named Rick John Wayne, or Winston Springer ? So I have no expectations that many of you would be in synchrony with my rejection of the Self-hating Samboes, like the Black Pete Josie, the Male Stripper on Steroids, Rick John Wayne killer of Indians and the Match-bomb tosser, the Sarah Flood Beaubrun, the cabal of House Negroes who worship a naked Caucasian nailed to a Post as their God, and the deluded brain-damaged Negroes, hell bent on making an ugly witch/La Jahbles the First Lady over our Beautiful Original People of the Universe, the Black African Women of this country.

    What I don’t expect however, is a retrograde motion on your part, into this Black Hole of this international embarrassing Ignoramus and pathological Liar known as Allen Chastanet. For several months I have appealed to your sense of Reason and your conscience, begging you, not to allow yourselves to be deceived by the superficial trimmings, and the acts of deceptions by this Strawman/Pie Bannan, and Pathological Liar known as Allen Chastanet and his Bolom, Black Pete Josie and his lover the Male Stripper on Steroids.

    Allen Chastanet has perpetrated a hoax on this Cabal of unsophisticated Negro slaves on the Plantation called U.W.P. This reprobate Allen Chastanet, with the help of his Slave owning father has encouraged the extermination of Black Lucian Males using Killer Cops under the direction of Vernon Pinochet Francois. This shameless fraudster Chastanet told us that individuals speaking Kweyol were of no consequence, and therefore forbidden to address him directly, ‘en lang mama mwen’.

    This Allen Chastanet bum, told us that the American Civil War was fought against England, while calling Lucian workers Niggers as he led a protest march, later blaming John Wayne for saying they were just invisible “Black Blobs” with only their eyes apparent.

    What is the matter with you self-hating Negroes?? Are you this shameless that you allow this Mulatto to pile such insults upon your mothers and grand mothers who spoke Kweyol?? While he rewards you with a drink of ‘wom blanc’ ?

    Everyone in the world knows the name Nelson Mandela, EXCEPT THE IGNORAMUS ALLEN CHASTANET. This fraudster has again made Lucians look like we live in caves and under the Diamond Rock and tells the story of Robinson Crusoe. Allen changes Mandela’s name

    https://www.facebook.com/284538805083530/videos/vb.284538805083530/468909329979809/?type=2&theater&notif_t=like

    /

  2. SON OF MAN
    THIS THING NAME IS ALLAN TRUMP.
    PETER JUDAS CAIN JOSIE IS THE SEED OF THE DEVIL (SERPENT) WHO TALK BACK 2 GOD.;am i my brother’s keeper? said this vicious son of the evil one to god.
    he IS TRYING TO kill (AGAIN) his brother ABEL (KENNY) BECA– USE HE IS JEALOUS OF HIS ACHIEVEMENTS
    PETER JUDAS CAIN JOSIE IS THE WORLD’S LEADING COON..

  3. /

    “Have you forgotten, that once we were brought here, we were robbed of our names, robbed of our language, we lost our religion, our culture, our God, and many of us by the way we act, even lost our minds!” – Dr. Khalid Muhammad on Public Enemy’s ‘Night Of The Living Base Heads’.

    February 17th, marks nine years since “The Black Power General” made his transition to the realm of the ancestors. Many of his comrades, protégés and supporters often reflect on the impact he had on them, and his contributions to freeing Afrikans throughout the Diaspora from mental colonialism.

    “Dr. Khalid was influential to the youth because he came at a time when we didn’t really have anything. We didn’t have any structure or unity because of the biological warfare called ‘crack’. He not only put the manhood back in Black men, he also gave us the sense of self-worth,” affirmed Shaka Shakur, Harlem Chairman-New Black Panther Party (NBPP) .

    – See more at: http://hiphopwired.com/2010/02/16/remembering-dr-khalid-abdul-muhammad-the-truth-terrorist-video/#sthash.2Lbh5toa.dpuf

    /

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Send this to a friend