President Ali congratulates Pierre on second term in Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre

President Dr Irfaan Ali has congratulated Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre on securing a second term, saying the result underscored voters’ confidence in his leadership and reaffirmed Guyana’s commitment to closer regional cooperation.

“On behalf of the Government and people of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, I extend my warmest congratulations to Hon Philip J. Pierre on his re-election, for a second term, as Prime Minister of Saint Lucia,” the president said in a Facebook post.

He added: “I look forward to working closely with his government, in the months and years ahead, to advance our shared ideals of regional cooperation and integration, and to further strengthen the longstanding and friendly relations between Guyana and Saint Lucia.”

Official results for St Lucia’s general elections on Tuesday showed the governing Labour Party winning at least nine of 17 legislative seats, enough to return Pierre to office. The results also showed Pierre with 57.1 per cent of the popular vote against conservative opposition leader Allen Chastanet’s 37.3 per cent.

Chastanet preceded Pierre as prime minister of the country of 180,000 people. His United Workers Party (UWP), which held just two seats going into Monday’s vote, had secured one seat as of late evening.

Election observers from the British High Commission praised a well-organised vote on state TV, saying people appeared to be turning out in good numbers and the atmosphere at polling stations had been calm and stable.

Pierre campaigned on stability and cautious economic management, while Chastanet argued that security had worsened under Pierre’s leadership partly because of reduced US support for local police under the US Leahy Law. He has also called for more transparent auditing of the island’s citizenship-by-investment programme.

CBI programmes are a key source of revenue for several Eastern Caribbean nations, but the policy has triggered concerns in Washington, which said they can be exploited by “nefarious actors” from China or Iran.

Washington this year proposed its own “gold card” visa programme aimed at accelerating immigration processing for wealthy applicants.

The St Lucia vote followed Thursday’s election in neighbouring St Vincent and the Grenadines, where the opposition swept almost all seats, ending Ralph Gonsalves’ 24-year tenure.

It also comes as the US increases a military build-up in the Caribbean, which it says is aimed at countering drug trafficking around Venezuela. Authorities in the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago have allowed US vessels to dock in their territory. (OP and Reuters)