St. Kitts – Nevis PM – Denzil Douglas
Photo By Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
January 24, 2010 (CUOPM)
St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas says his governing St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party expects to win Monday’s general election.
“I am going for all eight seats and I am serious. “˜It’s working’ is not just simply a slogan here. It has a meaning,” he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Saturday.
Dr. Douglas, who continues to boast of his government’s management of the economy during the ongoing global financial crisis, is therefore not entertaining suggestions coming from the opposition side that there will be a complete reversal of the results of the last election which saw Labour winning seven of the eight seats on St. Kitts.
“PAM has gone crazy and desperate. Nobody believes in this country that PAM can get anything like seven seats. PAM will not get a majority. In fact, I will work my butt off in the next two days to ensure they get nil,” Douglas said, adding that he was prepared to use all “legal” means at his disposal to ensure victory is secured.
But PAM believes that after 14 years in office, Douglas is the one grasping at straws.
The party’s leader, Lindsay Grant, is equally adamant about victory and suggests the writing is on the wall for Douglas and his team.
“I am feeling very good. I think the people are ready for change. We have done what we needed to do…We have outlined a programme that really has awakened the consciousness of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis and so we believe that come January 25 that is what people will base their vote on,” he told CMC.
While seeking to focus his party’s campaign on issues of crime, corruption and cost of living, Grant has been forced to defend himself against bribery allegations levelled by the governing side.
At the same time, Douglas has also recently been on the back foot ever since the opposition revealed what it said was documented evidence which shows that the Prime Minister passed millions of US dollars through a foreign bank account.
Both sides have out rightly denied the charges, leaving the electorate to decide who it believes should govern them following Monday’s poll.
While confident of victory, both camps have been going all out to win votes and have been engaging in lavish spending for the elections.
Apart from massive fireworks display, big stage presentation with large projector screens, the ruling Labour party brought out a slew of top regional performers to the Warner Park stadium in the capital on Saturday night, including Busy Signal, Morgan Heritage and Bernie Man in a bid to woo young voters.
This, after a major concert-style performance featuring Haitian musician Wyclef Jean a week prior and a major cross country motorcade on Saturday afternoon.
It has also been bringing in plane loads of Kittitian nationals resident abroad.
While on the surface, PAM’s budget appears to be smaller, it too has been throwing money behind billboards, foreign artistes and other election materials but is yet to reveal its overall spending.
When pressed about his budget, all Prime Minister Douglas would say is, “I don’t have enough money. If I had enough money, the battle would have been over long time.”
More than 32,000 people are eligible to cast ballots in Monday’s poll, in which there are also three seats at stake on Nevis.
The race on the sister island is a straight fight between the Concerned Citizen’s Movement and the Nevis Reformation Party.