SLP supporters in Choiseul upset over candidate selection: The process was “flawed, contaminated and manipulated”

Some Saint Luica Labour Party (SLP) supporters in Choiseul have not taken lightly to the endorsment of Dr. Pauline Antoine-Prospere over Dr. Alphonsus St. Rose, as the candidate for the constituency. (The party has not officially announced the selection but in a video posted to social media this week, Dr. St. Rose confirms that he was not chosen).

Former Choiseul MP Ferguson John and Dr. St. Rose recently met with aggrieved constituents, and encouraged them to let their voices be heard. Ferguson noted that ever since residents got word of Pauline’s endorsement, St. Rose’s team has been bombarded with calls because people think that the “wrong decision has been made.”

“Now, I’ll say this,” Ferguson told residents. “The SLP is our party. Without us, there is no party.” Ferguson recalled that during his stint in politics, there was a time when the party had certain problems with him. However he reminded residents that at the time, constituents rallied together and made it clear to the leadership who they wanted to represent them.

Ferguson — who represented the constituency from 1997-2006 — acknowledged that this time around the situation is different because a candidate has already been chosen, “but it’s not too late. You have to be a man, you have to be brave, you have to understand so that you can say ‘we made a mistake, let us correct it.’ And what we think we should do now is let the party know they have made a mistake and they must correct it.”

He went on: “We think we should let them know what our preference is and we should make it clear to them, that if the majority of the people of Choiseul cannot decide who they want to represent them via the SLP, then we cannot be responsible if people force us to do something we would prefer not to do.”

Dr. St. Rose promised residents that he will stand by them through good and bad times. He revealed that last Friday, he received a message indicating that the party’s executive met and made a decision to endorse Dr.Antoine-Prospere. He indicated that from day one, constituents felt that the process was “tainted, contaminated, rigged and structured against their choice.”

Residents have started a petition stating that they fully endorse and support Dr St. Rose as their candidate of choice. They intend to submit the petition to the party’s executive in the coming days. It reads in part: “As a strong Labour Party community, we are very concerned that the candidate selection process was flawed, contaminated and manipulated, and does not reflect the philosophy of our founding father George F.L Charles, and the principles of ‘Bread,Freedom and Justice.'”

It is unclear whether the party will decide to have a run-off following this latest development.