Amid opposition urgings for a return to the polls, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre has responded that it won’t happen soon.
Pierre preceded his comments by warning Saint Lucians not to be carried away by power-hungry politicians who refuse to understand the right of the people to elect the government or remove it when the time comes.
“I can assure you there are going to be no elections in Saint Lucia anytime soon. Elections are called by the Prime Minister,” he told reporters at Monday’s pre-cabinet press briefing.
Pierre declared that the trend would continue.
“No one will ever be able to say to the Prime Minister, it has not happened before, it won’t happen now, when to call elections,” he declared.
“The Prime Minister will call elections and the Prime Minister will ensure that he follows constitutional requirements for elections. So all this disorder and this deliberate creation of trying to pretend there is a chaos and there is crisis in this country, that will not go anywhere. It will just keep the country back and I am calling on all Saint Lucians to disregard this power-hungry situation happening in this country,” the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) leader stated.
The SLP surged into office following a landslide election win in July 2021.
Pierre had earlier expressed concern at Monday’s pre-cabinet briefing about the politically-influenced glorification of criminal activity.
“I am very concerned about the glorification of crime in certain sectors for political reasons,” Pierre, who is responsible for National Security, told reporters.
“The opposition always seems to be happy when things do not go right as far as crime is concerned,” he noted.
“There seems to be a joy, you know. Instead of condemning criminality and saying to criminals that they are on the wrong path,” Pierre stated.
He recalled that his administration worked with a non-government organisation, giving it $250,000 based on a budget to assist with crime suppression in depressed areas.
However, the Prime Minister lamented that the opposition criticised the initiative.
“The opposition in their desperation seemingly, and I make no bones about it, seemingly encouraged crime, encouraged criminality, encouraged disorder, for their own political motives,” Pierre asserted.
