Politics of St. Lucia
St. Lucia is a multi-party parliamentary democracy and is based on the British model of government. As part of the British Commonwealth, St. Lucia has Queen Elizabeth II serve as chief of state, the queen appoints a governor general to represent her, although power of the country lies with the Prime Minister, who leads the government, as well as the Cabinet (Encyclopedia of the Nations). These people are the ones that choose the fate of St. Lucia’s pristine environment.
St. Lucia has a bicameral parliament, which has seventeen members in the House of Assembly and eleven members in the Senate. The House is elected for five year terms by the people of St. Lucia, where as the Senate is appointed by the governor general. There are two parties that make up St. Lucia, The United Workers Party (UWP) and The St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP). UWP was more successful with the banana growers and were once the dominant force in politics of St. Lucia up until 1997 when their leader John Compton retired. SLP were considered more left wing and concerned with trade unions, they was headed by Kenny Anthony and won once Compton retired (U.S. Department of State).
The banana industry was primarily owned and operated by the government but is not thriving like it used to. One reason is because the Prime Minister is more active in promoting the country’s industrial and financial development rather then saving the banana industry (Encyclopedia of the Nations). The Prime Minister is trying to develop St. Lucia, the government is trying to create incentives for foreign investors by building roads, ports and industrial complexes all to attract foreign investments in manufacturing and services (U.S. Department of State). This will have a big impact on St. Lucia’s environment causing an increase in population and tourism, which increases pollution, as well as deforestation which affects ecosystems.
In recent elections SLP were victorious. Although their former leader became ill and passed a way their new leader Stephenson King has already taken steps towards creating a cleaner environment and has supported a solar project to facilitate the introduction of grid-tied small photovoltaic (PV) systems (Government of Saint Lucia, Encyclopedia of the Nations). Although St. Lucia wants their country to grow and flourish, they have to be environmentally conscious as they continue to develop.
