Speaking to a large crowd of supporters at Buckley’s (constituency #3) on Tuesday evening, Douglas said that, like in a previous general election, he intends to make a clean sweep of the 11 seats on both St. Kitts and Nevis.
“We rang the bell in St. Paul’s in 2000, and we collected all eight seats (on St. Kitts). Tonight, we have rung the bell in constituency #3, and we shall have all eleven seats,” declared Douglas.
In doing so, the prime minister called on party supporters to “spread out” and invite supporters of the opposition parties to “cross over” and give their support to the SKNLP/NRP coalition.
“Tell them, my brother, my sister, cross over. We have open arms. We have enough room for them. Spread out to invite them to cross over,” he stated.
Having announced the 16th of February as Election Day, he called on his supporters to avoid violence.
“Apart from it being fair, with fair boundaries, I want you to be violent free. I don’t want any violence, but I ask you, if you are being in any way a subject of violence, you’ve got to protect yourself and defend yourself.
“You hear wa a tell you, eh. We aren’t going lay down with our two hands beside
us, you know. We don’t want no violence, but a tell you all already is only warriors I want with me,” said Douglas.
The prime minister’s calling of elections came on the day that the High Court dismissed the injunction against the 16th January Constituency Boundaries proclamation on the grounds that effecting the boundary changes does not depend on the proclamation being gazetted and published, as opined by the opposition lawyers. The presiding judge Justice Marlene Carter also used as grounds for dismissing the injunction that it was granted after the governor-general signed the proclamation.
Opposition lawyer Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes gave notice to the High Court of the intent of appeal against the judge’s ruling based on concern that elections could be concluded without a decision from the appellate court.
Late Tuesday (27th January) Mendes made a case for a new injunction to be placed on the Electoral Commission and the Supervisor of Elections to prevent the use of the realigned boundaries. Justice Carter is expected to rule on this matter Wednesday morning.