2015 Saint Kitts and Nevis general election

General elections were held in Saint Kitts and Nevis on 16 February 2015. The ruling Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, was defeated by Team Unity, an alliance of the Concerned Citizens' Movement, the People's Action Movement, and the People's Labour Party, led by Timothy Harris.

2015 Saint Kitts and Nevis general election

← 2010 16 February 2015 2020 →

11 of 15 seats to the National Assembly
6 seats needed for a majority
Turnout72.19%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Shawn Richards Denzil Douglas Vance Amory
Party PAM SKNLP CCM
Leader's seat St Christopher #5 St Christopher #6 Nevis #10
Last election 32.24%, 2 seats 46.96%, 6 seats 10.99%, 2 seats
Seats won 4 3 2
Seat change Increase2 Decrease3 Steady
Popular vote 8,452 11,897 3,951
Percentage 27.90% 39.27% 13.04%
Swing Decrease4.34pp Decrease7.69pp Increase2.05pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Joseph Parry Timothy Harris
Party NRP PLP
Leader's seat Did not run St Christopher #7
Last election 9.75%, 1 seat
Seats won 1 1
Seat change Steady New
Popular vote 3,276 2,723
Percentage 10.81% 9.0%
Swing Increase1.06pp New

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Denzil Douglas
SKNLP

Elected Prime Minister

Timothy Harris
PLP

Campaign

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Prior to the elections, three opposition parties, the People's Action Movement, the People's Labour Party and the Concerned Citizens' Movement formed the Team Unity alliance.[1] The three parties did not field candidates against each other, and formed the sole opposition to the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party on Saint Kitts and to the Nevis Reformation Party on Nevis.

Electoral system

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Eleven of the fifteen seats in the National Assembly were elected, with three other members appointed by the Governor-General at some point after the elections and one seat held by the Attorney-General.[2] The eleven elected seats were elected in single-member constituencies using plurality voting.[3]

Results

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On Saint Kitts, the People's Action Movement won four of the eight seats, whilst the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party lost half their seats. Contesting their first elections, the People's Labour Party won one seat. On Nevis, two seats were won by the Concerned Citizens' Movement and the third by the Nevis Reformation Party.[1]

The outgoing coalition (SKNLP and NRP) secured 50.08% of votes but got only 4 seats due to the single-member plurality electoral system. This was also the first election in the country where the individual party that won the most votes did not win the most seats.

 
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party11,89739.273–3
People's Action Movement8,45227.904+2
Concerned Citizens' Movement3,95113.0420
Nevis Reformation Party3,27610.8110
People's Labour Party2,7238.991New
Appointed members40
Total30,299100.00150
Valid votes30,29999.49
Invalid/blank votes1560.51
Total votes30,455100.00
Registered voters/turnout42,18572.19
Source: SKN Vibes

Elected MPs

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MPs Party Constituency
  Ian Liburd People's Action Movement St Christopher #1
  Marcella Liburd Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party St Christopher #2
  Konris Maynard Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party St Christopher #3
  Lindsay Grant People's Action Movement St Christopher #4
  Shawn Richards People's Action Movement St Christopher #5
  Denzil Douglas Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party St Christopher #6
  Timothy Harris People's Labour Party St Christopher #7
  Eugene Hamilton People's Action Movement St Christopher #8
  Mark Brantley Concerned Citizens' Movement Nevis #9
  Vance Amory Concerned Citizens' Movement Nevis #10
  Patrice Nisbett Nevis Reformation Party Nevis #11

References

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  1. ^ a b Team Unity wins St Kitts and Nevis 2015 general election Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine Caribbean Elections, 17 February 2015
  2. ^ Team Unity declared official winners of St Kitts Election Archived 2015-02-20 at the Wayback Machine The Daily Observer, 17 February 2015
  3. ^ Electoral system IPU