2000 Saint Kitts and Nevis general election
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6 March 2000
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11 of 15 seats in the National Assembly 6 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered | 34,166 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 64.24% ( 4.14pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Results by constituency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpeg)
 |
|---|
| Administrative divisions (parishes) |
General elections were held in Saint Kitts and Nevis on 6 March 2000. The result was a victory for the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party, which won eight of the eleven directly-elected seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 64.2%.
Background and campaign
[edit]In February 2000, the prime minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Denzil Douglas, announced that there would be an election in March 2000, four months before a general election was constitutionally due.[1] The Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) under Douglas' leadership had governed since the 1995 election, when they had won a majority with 7 of 11 elected seats.[2]
This was the first general election for the federation since the unsuccessful Nevisian independence referendum in 1998, leading Douglas to state in a campaign rally that if his party lost power to the People's Action Movement (PAM), it could lead to a PAM-led coalition with Nevisian parties and "instability and confusion" for the federation.[3] The extradition of a notable alleged drug trafficker to the United States in February 2000 was seen by experts as being likely to boost the SKNLP's campaign.[4][3][5] The PAM and its former prime minister Kennedy Simmonds criticised Labour's economic record and the level of government debt.[3][6]
In Nevis, the Concerned Citizens' Movement leader and Nevis Premier Vance Amory campaigned on his claimed successes in government locally in Nevis.[5]
Results
[edit]Voting took place on 6 March 2000 and resulted in a landslide victory for the SKNLP, which won all eight seats on Saint Kitts and therefore held a majority in the National Assembly.[7][3] Notably, PAM's only member of parliament and Leader of the Opposition, Hugh Heyliger, lost his seat to the SKNLP's Jacinth Henry-Martin.[3] Turnout for the election was 64.2%.[8]
 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party | 11,762 | 53.85 | 8 | +1 | |
| People's Action Movement | 6,468 | 29.61 | 0 | –1 | |
| Concerned Citizens' Movement | 1,901 | 8.70 | 2 | 0 | |
| Nevis Reformation Party | 1,710 | 7.83 | 1 | 0 | |
| Appointed members | 4 | 0 | |||
| Total | 21,841 | 100.00 | 15 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 21,841 | 99.51 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 108 | 0.49 | |||
| Total votes | 21,949 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 34,166 | 64.24 | |||
| Source: Caribbean Elections | |||||
References
[edit]- ↑ The BBC Caribbean (radio) (14 February 2000). "Caribbean Report 14-02-2000" – via University of the West Indies.
- ↑ "General Election Results - 3 April 1995". Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), KnowledgeWalk Institute, Caribbean Elections - 1 2 3 4 5 Associated Press (7 March 2000). "Labor Party returned to power in St. Kitts elections" – via Latin American Studies.
- ↑ "Extradition a big relief for tiny island". The Miami Herald. 28 February 2000. Retrieved 2 May 2025 – via newspapers.com.
- 1 2 Suzanne Gordon (5 March 2000). "Drug link bugs island election". South Florida Sun Sentinel – via newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Saint Kitts and Nevis voters to decide bitter campaign". News-Press. 7 March 2000 – via newspapers.com.
- ↑ Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p574 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
- ↑ Nohlen, p577
