GOVERNMENT
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 majority
party of the house, and the cabinet conducts affairs of state.
St. Kitts and Nevis has a bicameral legislature: An 11-member
senate appointed by the governor general (mainly on the advice
of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition); and an
11-member popularly elected house of representatives which has
eight St. Kitts seats and three Nevis seats. The prime minister
and the cabinet are responsible to the Parliament.
St. Kitts and Nevis has enjoyed a long history of free and fair elections, although the outcome of elections in 1993 was strongly protested by the opposition and the Eastern Caribbean Regional Security System (RSS) was briefly deployed to restore order. The elections in 1995 were contested by the two major parties, the ruling People's Action Movement (PAM) and the St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party. Labour won seven of the 11 seats, with Dr. Denzil Douglas becoming prime minister. In the 2004 elections, Denzil Douglas and the Labour Party were returned to power, winning seven of the eight seats allotted to St. Kitts in the Parliament. The Nevis-based Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) won two seats, the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) won one seat, and the PAM party won one seat. The next elections are constitutionally due by October 2009, but many believe that Douglas will call elections in late 2008.
The constitution gives Nevis considerable autonomy. Nevis has an island assembly, a premier, and a deputy governor general. Under certain specified conditions, it may secede from the federation. In accordance with its rights under the Constitution, in 1996 the Nevis Island Administration under the Concerned Citizens' Movement (CCM) of Premier Vance Amory initiated steps towards secession from the Federation, the most recent being a referendum in 1998 that failed to secure the required two-thirds majority for secession. In the July 10, 2006 Nevis elections for the Nevis Island Administration, the NRP won three of the five seats; the CCM won two. The NRP's Joseph Parry assumed the premiership of Nevis. While opposing secession, the government acknowledged the constitutional rights of Nevisians to determine their future independence. Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association. Like its neighbors in the English-speaking Caribbean, St. Kitts and Nevis has an excellent human rights record. Its judicial system is modeled on British practice and procedure and its jurisprudence on English common law.
Principal
Government Officials
Chief of State--Queen Elizabeth II
Governor General--Sir Cuthbert M. Sebastian
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Sustainable Development, Information and Technology, Tourism, Culture and Sport--Dr. Denzil Llewellyn Douglas
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Dr. Timothy Sylvester Harris
Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the OAS--Dr. Izben Williams
Ambassador to the UN--Delano Bart
Principal Nevis Island Government Official, Premier--Joseph Parry
The
embassy of St. Kitts
and Nevis is located at 3216 New Mexico Ave., NW, Washington,
DC 20016 (tel. 202-686-2636).
Government Type: Constitutional
monarchy with Westminster-style Parliament.
Constitution: 1983.
Independence: September 19, 1983.
Branches: Executive--governor general (representing Queen
Elizabeth II, head of state), prime minister (head of government),
cabinet. Legislative--an 11-member senate appointed by the governor
general (mainly on the advice of the prime minister and the leader
of the opposition) and an 11-member popularly elected house of
representatives. Judicial--magistrate's courts, Eastern Caribbean
supreme court (high court and court of appeals), final appeal
to privy council in London.
Administrative subdivisions: 14 parishes.
Political parties: St. Kitts and Nevis Labor Party (ruling),
People's Action Movement (PAM), Concerned Citizens Movement (a
Nevis-based party), and Nevis Reformation Party.
Suffrage: Universal at 18.
