PRIME MINISTER of St Kitts & Nevis Dr Denzil Douglas says he will announce the date of the country’s next elections at a public meeting tonight.
In an address to the nation this evening, he said in a matter of weeks, residents would get the chance to place their “X”.
Douglas pointed out that his St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party government had come into power in trying times.
“No one in our federation could have known, at the time of our country’s last election, that the world would practically spin out of control in years to come, with a global crisis lurching and lumbering ever forward, wreaking havoc in one country after another,” he said.
The Prime Minister noted that this made the achievements of the country “extraordinary”.
“Together, we produced the highest rate of economic growth in the Eastern Caribbean in 2013, the second highest in CARICOM, and are projected to lead all of CARICOM in 2014.
“We have attracted more foreign direct investment than any of our neighbours; we have provided life-altering and lucrative skills training to thousands of nationals cost-free,” he said.
Douglas added that for the first time, long service workers receive a substantial gratuity should they decide to start a new chapter in their lives; fathers are entitled to child support; and Government-provided access to technology has expanded the skills profiles of students and their families alike.
“Land for housing and farming has expanded exponentially, and we are now an exporter of agricultural produce to neighbouring countries and territories,” he added.
The Prime Minister noted that the sizes of the federation’s electoral constituencies have been adjusted in an attempt to make them closer to equal but “where we vote in 2015 will be the exact same place we voted in 2010 – in an attempt to make voting a calm and seamless process for all”.
“This year’s vote is the means by which we, in St Kitts-Nevis, will determine the course and fate of our nation,” the Prime Minister said. (NB)