THE current political situation in Saint Lucia, on the eve of officially still-distant General Elections, is accelerating at unprecedented levels.
Parties, politicians and supporters, taking their cues from the continuing Registration of Voters and Updating of Voters’ Lists by the Electoral Department, are hitting the campaign trail hard – both online and offline.
But voters are also speaking out — like never before — about their displeasure with some of the statements and actions emanating from political and online platforms.
The popular ‘Vox Populi’ (Voice of the People) feedback in the local media last week — on TV programmes like DBS’ ‘Street Vibes’, HTS’ ‘E-Poll’ and a similar programme on CHOICE News — heard two major feedbacks to questions about the upcoming elections.
The first question asked respondents ‘which party’ they felt had the advantage to win and the large majority of each random sampling said or suggested SLP will win again.
The second question was about ‘behaviour of politicians’ on the campaign trail for the upcoming General Elections – and again, most called for rules and regulations to guide the conduct of parties and politicians.
The vast majority of respondents to Question 2 expressed disgust with ‘the state of politics in Saint Lucia today’ and ‘the behaviour of the politicians’ as the parties started choosing candidates.
High Stakes
The stakes are high and what’s at stake is more than just political beef-steak.
More than ever is at stake today, as the parties seek to confirm or reverse historical election result trends, including some set on July 26, 2021.
The main objective of the opposition this time is to continue the revolving door changes that saw four successive changes at the General Election in 2006, 2011, 2015 and 2021.
The main objective of the ruling party, on the other hand, is to protect, preserve and hopefully increase its 13 seats last won, as well as the two independent seats (Castries North and Castries Central) that have given it the 15-2 majority it’s enjoyed in the House of Assembly since this Government was sworn-in in August 2021.
The ruling party will also want to break the successive changes of government at each of the last four elections — by winning again.
More people want to be candidates for each party this time — and those who fail or aren’t sure they’ll be selected by any party pledge to contest as independents or talk about creating new parties.
Within the parties too, ‘run-offs’ (to replace or challenge sitting candidates) are being conducted like national polls, most times with equal bitter division between contesting hopefuls.
The acrimony already being heard from the lips of contesting politicians is naturally worrying to peace-loving Saint Lucians after 46 years of Independence and 10 General Elections.
However, voters have an equal stake as candidates and parties in General Elections and Civil Society must always be ready to partake in any and all endeavours that genuinely seek to improve how politics is played out in Saint Lucia and the Caribbean.
Politics must not continue being seen as a game between parties and politicians, but instead as a national democratic exercise, by the people the candidates want to represent, to choose the party and representatives electors will elect.
Voting is usually a quiet process on Election Day, but it’s during the campaigns that the damage is done.
All this is happening today, at a changed time in a changed climate, when young people have the world at their fingertips when it comes to looking at how politics ‘played out’ here and what it ‘should be’, if it’s to ‘get better’.
Young people have long been demonstrating just how dissatisfied they are with Caribbean politics today – and Saint Lucia is no exception.
From as far back as when the young Christopher Hunte – son of Saint Lucia’s then Opposition Leader — established the ‘STAFF Party’ to voice young people’s voices and register their presence in the island’s politics, it was clear the youth did not want to be part of the so-called pork barrel politics (that saw politicians climbing over each other at the bottom of a barrel to reach an impossible top).
Young people posted their protest back then — not online, but off — and directly on the ground, into the ballot box.
It was the first time a ‘party for and by the youth’ was formed and the election results showed a higher percentage level of support for ‘STAFF Party’ than the two major parties, in the constituencies where it contested.
Unfortunately, the STAFF Party was seen and treated largely like ‘a joke party’ that evolved from Christopher Hunte’s hilarious DBS program ‘Lucians’.
Indeed, the initials were registered as ‘Sou Tout Apwe Fete Fini’ (STAFF), which refers to ‘Being or getting drunk after the party ends…’
Christopher is no longer a youth, but neither are the other now-adult voters who cast their ballots for The STAFF Party back then.
But, wherever they may be in the politics of the island today, there are things they have in common – and one is their better understanding of how the world turns than most of the wannabe politicians offering to represent them.
21st Century Caribbean youth can live and follow politics online, where many (if not most) get answers to the many questions they have about politics and politicians the-world-over.
While today’s adults are concerned about whether robots can ‘takeover’ human minds, the youth are using the robots in Chat GPT to look into the future and consulting their devices on how to do any and every thing.
As we near the end of the First Quarter of Century 21, it’s necessary for political parties to start devising mechanisms for planting seeds for a better future for local politics by identifying and engaging with progressive youth interested in changing national politics from within.
They have long said they fell they deserve better – and they still do, as the ones who’ll guide and build each nation’s future.
But it also cuts both ways and today’s youth must also be willing to do more to avoid or escape being sucked into the politics of yesteryear by yesterday’s politicians seeking the votes of the Now Generation to remain in power tomorrow – and forever.