SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
— Officially: Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
— Seat of government: Basseterre.
— Status: Democratic.
— Structure: The parliament (National Assembly) comprises representatives elected in geographical constituencies, who choose the prime minister, and a smaller number of senators, chosen by the government and the parliamentary oppositon.
— Governing party: Team Unity (People’s Action Movement, Concerned Citizen’s Movement, People’s Labour Party).
— Head of government: Timothy Harris, PLP, prime minister (since 2015).
— Opposition parliamentary party: Saint Kitts–Nevis Labour Party.
— Assessment: Saint Kitts and Nevis may separate, but will apparently do so democratically and peacefully. Labour won a dominant popular majority in 1993, but was passed over in favor of Kennedy Simmonds (1980-95) of PAM, who had been in office since before independence (1983). Protests over that PAM minority government led to early elections in 1995, which Labour won; Denzil Douglas (1995-2015) became prime minister. In a 2015 election, Labour won a plurality of the popular vote, but PAM won more seats, and formed a government under Harris, whose PLP split from Labour and won a single seat. In the 2020 elections, the Team Unity coalition won a majority of votes, though Labour again won a far smaller share of seats than of votes.
— FH: 1-1, free.
— Updated: 2021 June 18.
O.T. FORD