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Voting 101
For a person to qualify to register on the voters list, they must be:
18 years of age or older,
Citizen of Saint Christopher and Nevis or,
a Commonwealth citizen and has lived in St. Kitts and Nevis for a period of 12 months before the date of registration on the voters list.
When you get to your polling station, you join the line or enter the station if there is none.
When you enter the polling station give your name and address and voters ID to the election official at the check-in table.
The official will then instruct you on what to do if you need help.
Federal Elections in St. Kitts-Nevis are constitutionally due every 5 years.
Registered voters can vote on Election Day.
On Election Day Polling Stations are usually open from 6am to 6pm. Employees must be allowed time away from their job to vote.
Voters can only vote in the Constituency and Polling Division that they have been registered in. Check the voters List to see which Constituency and Division you are registered to vote in.
Polling stations will be set up in each Constituency by the Returning Officer. They are usually centrally located, and may include such locations as Schools or Community Centers.
Polling locations may change from one election to another so it is important to determine your polling location before each election.
The location of polling stations will be publish prior to an election.
The people who work at a polling place are referred to as poll officials.
To take the vote and manage the process, there are two election officials at each polling place: the Deputy Returning Officer and the Poll Clerk. They use the Voters List for their poll and carefully record the events of the day in their Poll Book.
In addition, candidates or their representatives may be present to observe the voting process.
The Voting Process
When you arrive at your poll, you will proceed to the table where the Deputy Returning Officer and the Poll Clerk are seated. Even if your name is already on the Voters List, you must take your voter’s ID to the poll when you go to vote.
The poll officials will locate your name and address on the Voters List, cross it off, enter your elector number into the Poll Record, and hand you the ballot paper. You will then proceed to the voting room and mark your ballot in privacy.
You return the marked folded ballot to the poll officials who verify that it is the same one that were originally given to you.
The ballots are then returned to you. You then place your ballots in the ballot box.
VOTER RESOURCES
Election Basics
An election allows those eligible to vote (the electorate) to decide who should represent their views and interests. Elections are held at regular intervals to enable the population to change their representative if they no longer feel that the current postholder best represents those views and interests.
Fair and free elections are an essential part of a democracy, allowing citizens to determine how they want the country to be governed.
STAGES OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS
- Each voter (also called an elector) receives a form shortly before an election in their constituency and this gives the location of their polling station.
- Each elector presents his/her identification card to officials at the polling station, who checks off the name of the voter against the electoral register and issue them with a ballot paper.
- Electors vote by putting a cross on the ballot form against the name of the candidate they want to represent them and then placing the ballot paper in a sealed box. (Any other mark or comment on the paper renders it invalid.)
- When polling closes, the ballot boxes are collected from each polling station in the constituency and taken to a central point.There the seals are checked before the boxes are opened and the votes for each candidate are counted.
- When the counting finishes, the results of voting in that constituency are announced by the returning officer, who declares the winner of the election.
Government Structure
As Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II is represented in St. Kitts and Nevis by a Governor General, who acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The Prime Minister is the leader of the political party which won the largest number of seats in the National Assembly in the last general election. He is invited to form a government by the Governor-General. The Prime Minister is the senior minister in the government and is ultimately responsible for all government policies and programmes.
The Parliament of St. Kitts & Nevis is comprised of the Speaker, elected members of the Government and Opposition parties (11), appointed Senators (3) and the Attorney-General when not an elected member. Parliament, also called the National Assembly is the sole institution through which laws of the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis are passed, taxes imposed, and public expenditure authorized.
Under the Constitution, Nevis has considerable autonomy and has an Island Assembly, a Premier, and a Deputy Governor General. Nevis has its own legislature, premier and administration. The Nevis legislature, the Nevis Island Assembly, has five members elected by universal adult suffrage and three nominated members. The central government legislates for Nevis in matters concerning overall policy formation. Under the constitution, provision is made for the secession of Nevis at six months’ notice, after a two-thirds majority in favour in the Nevis Assembly and a referendum, also with at least two-thirds in favour.
| Government Type | Parliamentary democracy; independent sovereign state within the Commonwealth |
| Independence | 19 September 1983 (from the UK) |
| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal |
| Head of State (Executive Branch) | Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by the Governor-General |
| Head of Government (Executive Branch) | Prime Minister |
| Cabinet (Executive Branch) | Cabinet appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister |
| Elections | the monarchy is hereditary; the governor general appointed by the monarch; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition usually appointed Prime Minister by the Governor-General. |
| Legislative Branch | Unicameral National Assembly (14 seats, 3 appointed and 11 popularly elected from single-member constituencies; members serve five-year terms) |
| Judicial Branch | Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (consisting of a Court of Appeal and a High Court; based on Saint Lucia; two judges of the Supreme Court reside in Saint Kitts and Nevis); member of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). |
Constituency Saint Christopher 1
Constituency Saint Christopher 2
Constituency Saint Christopher 3
Constituency Saint Christopher 4
Constituency Saint Christopher 5
Constituency Saint Christopher 6
Constituency Saint Christopher 7
Constituency Saint Christopher 8
Constituency Nevis 9
Constituency Nevis 10
Constituency Nevis 11
Constituencies, Boundaries & Polling Stations
The National Assembly Elections Act Cap. 162 divides St. Kitts and Nevis into 11 electoral districts for the purpose of federal elections. Each electoral district constitutes one constituency and each constituency elects only one member to the Assembly.
Schedule 2 (1) of the Constitution states that “There shall be not less than eight constituencies in the island of St Christopher and not less than three constituencies in the island of Nevis and if the number of constituencies is increased beyond eleven, not less than one third shall be in the island of Nevis.”
2020 General Election Results
General elections were held in Saint Kitts and Nevis on Friday 5 June 2020.
The ruling coalition, Team Unity consisting of PAM, CCM and PLP, won a landslide victory with nine out of the eleven directly elected deputies.
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party | 10,316 | 37.09 | 2 | –1 | |
| People’s Action Movement | 8,067 | 29.00 | 4 | 0 | |
| People’s Labour Party | 3,681 | 13.23 | 2 | +1 | |
| Concerned Citizens’ Movement | 3,510 | 12.62 | 3 | +1 | |
| Nevis Reformation Party | 2,232 | 8.02 | 0 | –1 | |
| Independents | 11 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | |
| Appointed members | 4 | 0 | |||
| Total | 27,817 | 100.00 | 15 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 27,817 | 99.23 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 215 | 0.77 | |||
| Total votes | 28,032 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 48,076 | 58.31 | |||
| Source: Winn FM | |||||
Elected MPs
| Constituency | MPs | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Christopher #1 | Geoffrey Hanley | Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party | |
| St Christopher #2 | Jonel Powell | People’s Action Movement | |
| St Christopher #3 | Akilah Byron-Nisbett | People’s Labour Party | |
| St Christopher #4 | Lindsay Grant | People’s Action Movement | |
| St Christopher #5 | Shawn Richards | People’s Action Movement | |
| St Christopher #6 | Denzil Douglas | Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party | |
| St Christopher #7 | Timothy Harris | People’s Labour Party | |
| St Christopher #8 | Eugene Hamilton | People’s Action Movement | |
| Nevis #9 | Mark Brantley | Concerned Citizens’ Movement | |
| Nevis #10 | Eric Evelyn | Concerned Citizens’ Movement | |
| Nevis #11 | Alexis Jeffers | Concerned Citizens’ Movement | |
| Source:[1] | |||