It was an overwhelming loss for St Lucia’s United Workers Party (UWP) in the December 1 General Election, which saw incumbent Prime Minister Philip Pierre return to power with the Allen Chastanet-led UWP seeing 16 of its candidates being defeated.

The UWP also lost the 2021 general election, making it now two losses in a row and the party led by St Lucia’s most distinguished Prime Minister, the late John Compton, utterly decimated.

This campaign was a particularly bitter and acrimonious one, but it is clear that the people of St Lucia have placed their faith in Pierre’s stewardship of the country and unequivocally rejected Chastanet.

The remnants of the once imperious UWP are a long way from political power in St Lucia, and it was expected that Allen Chastanet, who won his seat, would step down and settle back into his life in the business world.

Nine days after his crushing defeat, he remains leader of his broken party, with its high command refusing to accept his resignation and urging him to continue to serve as party leader.

A statement from the UWP read: “The United Workers Party convened a meeting of the National Council, its highest decision-making body, on Monday, December 8th, to discuss recent political developments, including the resignation submitted by the Party Leader Allen Chastanet.

“After thorough deliberation, the body reached a clear and unanimous decision not to accept the resignation at this time. Allen Chastanet will therefore continue to serve as party leader until the upcoming convention.

“The United Workers Party remains committed to serving the public interest, strengthening our organisation and working constructively toward our shared goals. “We thank our members, supporters and the public for their continued trust.”

Speaking to Our Today from the Cayman Islands, former St Lucian diplomat Nelson Hippolyte said: “This defeat comes as a sobering realisation for the UWP that for now and with its current leader, it cannot unseat the SLP. The UWP is now in the political wilderness and will have to win over St Lucians with a new approach, new policies. 

“Allen Chastanet did the right thing stepping down and should walk away from leading the party. To stay on is just embarrassing, and people will have little faith in him. Sure, he can remain an MP, but he must put aside his political aspirations for now. He fought a very ugly and nasty campaign that didn’t do him any favours.

“The aim now is to spur economic growth, put in place infrastructure and create jobs. It would behove Allen Chastanet to come before the people of St Lucia and inform them that he is stepping down from the leadership rather than going along with the party. The UWP must begin rebuilding immediately with a new Leader and set its sights on becoming competitive in the next general election.”