If January was a month of violence and crime, February is turning out to be a month of politics and crime. First, Labour held its convention where they practically challenged the government to hold new elections. Then the prime minister addressed the nation. Now a brand new political party has been announced. And it promises to give women greater prominence in politics than the two major parties have.

So far, only three people have been confirmed as members of the new party. They include Therold Prudent and Franklin McDonald, both former United Workers Party members, one of whom was once considered for an ambassadorial position and the other, a former executive member of the party. The third is Dr Julian S Best, a former UWI economics lecturer and professor at Medgar Evers College in New York. Best serves as co-chair of the party along with McDonald and Prudent.

“There are other co-chairpersons inclusive of a number of women who have asked to remain anonymous for now,” the statement said. According to a statement from the group, “The Lucian People’s Movement plans to give St Lucians a decent and credible alternative at the poll come the next general election. The LPM has chosen the bell as its symbol and green as its colour.”

“The party chose the bell as its symbol because the time has come for the leaders of this country to summon the youth to action to work for a better and more peaceful St Lucia,” said McDonald. “The LPM will ring the bell for change, for freedom, for respect, good governance and democracy all over St Lucia.”
Prudent explained the choice of color saying: “The party chose the colour green because green is one color that does not run. The LPM does not intend to run away from any issue, discussion, debate or challenge.”

One of the LPM’s main grouses with the existing parties is the lack of inclusiveness. In an earlier interview with the STAR newspaper, Prudent criticized the Labour Party for being too closed within it ranks and not welcoming enough of new people with new ideas. He has some of the same problems with the ruling party, although his major problem with them has more to do with the performance and ability of the government in office.
Prudent hopes that the LPM will win hearts, minds and votes with a campaign centered on simple civic virtues. Although the party has just been announced and has yet to make a public appearance, the statement said “From the reports, surveys and responses the party has received, both private and public, the movement seems to be enjoying widespread approval and support from a cross-section of the general public.”

McDonald was sure that “the LPM will be offering something different in this crucial election. The party believes the hands that prepared the Last Supper should have a seat at the table of governance in St Lucia.”

Third parties are often the butt of political humour in St Lucia. It can’t be helped. Most of them are so hopelessly illogical, so painfully pathetic, that they cannot be ignored, they must be ridiculed.
Consider two of the best known examples in the recent past: the Freedom Party and the Staff Party. The Freedom Party is best known as the political front of Martinus Francois, lawyer, writer and has never seriously contested an election, staged a political meeting or even a televised address.

The Staff Party, unlike most other third parties in St Lucian history, knew that it was a joke and played the joke to the hilt, attracting hundreds of young people with its banal parodies of political reality. However, the Staff Party’s meetings fared far better than its candidates, most of whom lost their deposits, becoming the butt of their own jokes.

In the history of third parties in St Lucia, there has only been one phenomena that could be taken seriously and that is a Labour party faction which has broken off due to disaffection with its leadership.

The most successful third party in the history of independent St Lucia was, of course, the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) which broke off from the SLP in 1981 and contested the 1982 elections with a full slate of candidates. The PLP won more votes than the Labour Party itself in that election, but even then, Labour won two seats while PLP won only one. It was proof positive that while there was a demand for an alternative to the Tweedledee and Tweedledum politics of Labour and Flambeau, the third parties who have tried to fill the void lacked the political savvy to convert
that demand into political capital.

The Citizens Democratic Party in the mid-90s was perhaps the most practical of all third parties in the history of St Lucia. This faction of the Labour party included Lawson Calderon, Calixte George, Paul Hippolyte and others. From the outset, they announced that though they were unhappy with the leadership of Julian Hunte, they preferred not to have to contest elections. The moment that Kenny Anthony replaced Julian Hunte as the political leader of the party, the CDP faction folded its tent and came back to Labour. They never contested elections, but some of them were appointed to Cabinet positions anyway, most notably Calixte George, who served the agriculture ministry, the communications and works ministry and the home affairs ministry at different times.

The last third party to contest elections was George Odlum’s last political adventure, the National Alliance. The Alliance seemed to capture the imagination of St Lucians, appealing to Labourites who were disappointed in the government, Flambeaus
who had lost faith in their party and uncommitted voters who were not impressed with either. The Alliance aimed to build a broad coalition of interests against the then-SLP government, but that fell apart when the United Workers Party came out from under the National Alliance umbrella and contested the 2001 election on its own.

Prudent, McDonald et al face several challenges on the way to the next election. Neither one of them has an existing political base. Neither one is visibly involved in projects that capture the imaginations of potential voters. Neither has ever run for political office before. Outside of their friends, family and professions, neither one is widely known on the island. It also seems that most, if not all, of the co-chairs of the LPM are based outside of St Lucia, making it perhaps the first political party to conduct a long distance relationship with St Lucians.

What may be more important however is that the LPM might be the first political party in St Lucia to debut on the Internet.
Prudent and McDonald promised that LPM’s website will be up and running from today. In this, at least, the LPM has outdone not only the doomed third parties of the past and present but two major political parties as well, neither of whom have a dedicated, updated website of their own. To learn more about the LPM go directly to the source at http://lpmnow.org.