A massive crowd assembled in Odsan Sunday to witness and to give support to SLP’s Castries South East candidate Lisa Jawahir.
The crowd included SLP supporters from a number of other constituencies including Castries Central, Anse La Raye/Canaries, Dennery North, Dennery South and Vieux Fort North, with each constituency representative taking their turn to offer words of encouragement and advice but mainly to endorse her selection to run the seat.
The SLP’s Joachim Henry, who Jawahir replaces, was present on stage at the event and has publicly thrown his support behind her.
One of the surprises of the afternoon was the appearance on stage of Former United Workers Party (UWP) stalwart Mary Polius, who had high praise for Jawahir describing her as “an outstanding choice.” Polius went on, “we want people who can add value, we want people who care, we want people who can elevate us, we want people who can improve our quality of life and we want people who can improve the economy of St. Lucia.”
Others who spoke included Parliamentary Representative for Anse La Raye/Canaries Wayne Girard whose job it was to outline the achievements of a government that Jawahir was entering. Dennery North’s Shawn Edward was adamant that the atmosphere almost points to a clean sweep for the SLP at the next general election while Moses JnBaptiste was convinced Lisa Jawahir would retain the Castries South East seat for the St. Lucia Labour Party.
Jawahir for her part clarified that the occasion was not just a launching of her candidacy but as well the continuation of a good job already in motion. “It is true that we have seen tangible and visible progress in our nation. The policies of our Labour government, under the leadership of honourable Philip J. Pierre, have touched the hearts and minds of the people of our constituency. When children in Ti Rocher open laptops to do their work, that is progress.”
Jawahir says since she was given the nod to contest the seat, she has continuously been meeting with constituents.
Sunday’s launching, according to some SLP members, set a tone for the upcoming campaign.