The United Workers Party (UWP) will introduce a new set of candidates this Sunday, to contest the next election, which is constitutionally due in 2026.
The party’s leader Allen Chastanet confirmed this much this week at a Town Hall Meeting.
Although the candidates will be selected officially on Thursday, (tomorrow), at a National Council Meeting, Leanna Johannes-Paul, a well-known radio personality also known as “Lady Lee”, has already shown interest in contesting the Vieux Fort South parliamentary seat, which is currently occupied by former prime minister and Deputy Speaker Dr. Kenny D. Anthony.
On Sunday, September 15, at the Town Hall Meeting in Bexon, Johannes-Paul revealed that after much encouragement she decided to throw her hat in the ring.
“I want to run that seat and that is why I am here today,” she told attendees, adding that she is “more than just a voice behind the microphone.”
Johannes-Paul also took the opportunity to speak on Saint Lucia’s healthcare system which she said “is very dear to me.”
“Everyone is entitled to proper healthcare,” she said, adding that under the UWP, “a lot was done to improve healthcare on the island.”
With that in mind, the healthcare system has to be addressed, Johannes-Paul said.
“We must do better,” the radio personality urged.
Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre has welcomed her entrance into the political arena.
Pierre, earlier this week, stated that he’d heard the news, “but I don’t know the lady (‘Lady Lee’).”
Nonetheless, the prime minister said that he is “very happy more women are joining the political arena (and) I wish her all the best.”
But political candidates must be well-equipped the prime minister indicated, noting that opponents must know that it’s “a game of equals.”
Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet, on the other hand, is looking forward to the UWP’s National Public Meeting which will take place in the William Peter Boulevard on Sunday September 22, under the theme ‘Future Focused, People Centered’.
That meeting is being held weeks after government hosted a ‘Walk of Progress’.
“We have a very big meeting on Sunday and we’re going to be announcing some of our candidates,” Chastanet said, adding that “we have a National Council Meeting on Thursday where I’m hoping that some of the recommendations that we make will be accepted so we could make it public. That will begin the process of now launching all of those candidates in each of the constituencies.”
The political leader said that the Party has had “a remarkable number of people applying to be candidates and it’s very important that we make sure every single person who has had the courage to participate remains with the United Workers Party afterwards.”
“There’s much work to be done and all the persons who are putting themselves forward let me remind all of us that they have a role to play and we are to celebrate them. If they are not nominated it’s not because they’re not good,” the political leader explained, noting that “we have to choose one person for now.”
Sunday’s meeting will reveal whether the UWP has improved its strategy.
At the 2021 election, the party suffered significantly retaining only two seats.
Some individuals have blamed the political leader himself for the Party’s poor showing at the last election, with much of those opinions captured on social media.
And while rumours have been circulating on various platforms about who will be selected to represent the Party in the upcoming general election, including some popular names, Sunday’s meeting will tell whether or not those rumours are true.