by Peter Wickham,

 

ST LUCIA’S Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony surprised most of us by calling the general election, which is constitutionally due between November 2016 and February 2017, six months early. The logic of this early call, along with other factors that could impact on the outcome, now need to be properly analysed.

It was, therefore, unfortunate that Dr Tennyson Joseph, who enjoys a position of some prominence within regional academia and is also St Lucian, used a forum similar to this to slap down the political leader of the UWP for lacking “St Lucian-ness”.

Albeit, the article carried a disclaimer speaking to Joseph’s political credentials; however, this allegiance should not stand in the way of an independent analysis that does justice to these same credentials of which he wrote. Ironically, his analysis missed the most important comparison which is the fact that Joseph, like Chastanet, also never won a seat although possessing the “St Lucian-ness” deemed an ingredient necessary for success in St Lucian politics.

Substantively, there are several issues that arise with Anthony’s announcement with the first being the rationale behind his early call especially as one considers that recently early elections in St Lucia, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago (2011) did not go well for the incumbent.

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