St Lucia changes political direction; Anthony back as PM

Kenny Anthony addresses supporters after winning Monday's general election

The St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) made a stunning comeback in general elections Monday, defeating the governing United Workers' Party (UWP) of Stephenson King and returning Kenny Anthony to office after five years.

Preliminary results show that the SLP won 14 of the 17 seats in the Parliament, a gain of eight seats. The UWP won the other three.

Anthony's party was swept out of office in the 2006 election, winning only six of the seats. However it kept up a constant amount of pressure on the government and its efforts paid good dividends Monday.

One of the more controversial issues that dogged the King government was its relationship with Taiwan.

Anthony had always been confident that he would be back. He told St. Lucians the “days ahead will be hard, it will be difficult” and pledged not to send the wrong message with the victory.

“I am afraid there will be no holiday (Tuesday), we will get to work immediately. There is a hard job ahead of all of us and it is important for the sake of this country that we take the right step from now,” he he told supporters in a victory speech.

King had hoped to win a second consecutive term and was clearly disappointed with the result; he did not concede or make another statement Monday night.

Several of his cabinet minister went down to defeat and there are already calls for recounts in some of the close constituencies.

King won his seat comfortably as did Anthony, who urged his supporters to “celebrate quietly whether in their homes (or), their own communities.” He told them from Tuesday they have to "come back to work and start the job of rebuilding our country”.