St. Kitts ruling party wins in early elections

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – The ruling party of St. Kitts and Nevis seized a fourth consecutive term in early elections, officials said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Denzil Douglas' Labor Party claimed six of eight parliamentary seats allotted to St. Kitts, according to preliminary results, elections supervisor Leroy Benjamin said.

The opposition People's Action Movement won two seats, one more than it had in the last elections. The Nevis-based Concerned Citizens Movement held on to its two seats, and the Nevis Reformation Party kept its single spot, he said.

Benjamin said he did not yet have a breakdown of how many votes each party received.

Neither Douglas nor opposition leader Lindsay Grant reacted immediately to the results.

Roughly 70 percent of 32,000 eligible voters participated, Benjamin said, adding that his office received no immediate reports of irregularities.

The People's Action Movement said on its Web site there were reports of people voting in the wrong districts and improperly registered voters participating.

Douglas, a physician who has been in office since 1995, campaigned on his party's efforts to boost the island's fragile economy, build roads and hospitals and continue servicing the national debt.

The People's Action Movement governed St. Kitts and Nevis from 1980 to 1995. Grant, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was named party leader in 2000.