Team Unity
Team Unity | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Timothy Harris (PLP) |
| Deputy leader | Shawn Richards (PAM) Mark Brantley (CCM) |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Dissolved | 2022 |
| Succeeded by | One Movement |
| Headquarters | Campaign Headquarters, Fort Street, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| Slogan | "Better Together" |
| National Assembly | 9 / 11 |
| Nevis Island Assembly | 4 / 5 |
Team Unity, stylised as TEAM UNITY or Team UNITY, was a political alliance of three political parties in Saint Kitts and Nevis. It formed the government after winning the 2015 and 2020 elections. In 2022, major disagreements by CCM and PAM's leaders, Mark Brantley and Shawn Richards, with Prime Minister and PLP leader Timothy Harris, resulted in the government collapsing and Team Unity being dissolved ahead of a snap general election.
History
[edit]Team Unity was created in September 2013 by the newly founded People's Labour Party (a party founded by senior MPs who had split from the centre-left ruling SKN Labour Party), centre-right opposition party People's Action Movement, and the Nevis-based centre-right Concerned Citizens' Movement.[1][2][3] PLP leader Timothy Harris was made leader of the alliance,[4] with PAM leader Shawn Richards and senior CCM politician Mark Brantley becoming its deputy leaders.[2] At the 2015 election, the three parties ran on a joint platform and did not stand candidates against each other, encouraging voters to tactically vote for their Team Unity-backed candidate in order to oust the Labour government and bring in a Team Unity administration. This strategy worked, with the Team Unity alliance successfully winning 7 out of 11 seats and a combined 50% of the vote,[5][6] bringing a nearly 20 year long Labour governmment under Denzil Douglas to an end. Shortly after the election, Team Unity officially formed the government, with PLP leader Timothy Harris becoming Prime Minister,[7][8] and various cabinet roles going to Team Unity MPs, including PAM leader Shawn Richards as Deputy Prime Minister and CCM leader Mark Brantley as foreign minister.[9][10]
At the 2022 general election, Team Unity further increased its support and representation to 9 out of 11 seats and won a combined 55% of the vote. Harris again served as Prime Minister and Team Unity parties were assigned various Cabinet roles once again.
In March and April 2022, various disagreements between Richards and Brantley with Harris culminated in an attempted vote of no confidence in Harris as Prime Minister. In early May, this request for a no confidence vote was denied by the Governor-general and Harris subsequently sacked six cabinet ministers, including Richards and Brantley, and dissolved parliament and called a snap election.[2] In the 2022 Saint Kitts and Nevis snap election, the PLP ran candidates against PAM for the first time, and Team Unity was dissolved.
Member parties
[edit]Below is a table of Team Unity's members and their representation just before the dissolution of the alliance:
| Party | Abbr. | National Assembly MPs (2020-2022) |
Nevis Island Assembly MPs (2017-2022) |
|---|---|---|---|
| People's Action Movement | PAM | 4 / 11
|
N/A |
| Concerned Citizens' Movement | CCM | 3 / 11
|
4 / 5
|
| People's Labour Party | PLP | 2 / 11
|
N/A |
The alliance between the parties meant that they did not stand candidates against each other in general elections. The CCM only contest elections in Nevis anyway, with the other two parties therefore only contesting the St. Kitts constituencies.
Election results
[edit]| Election year | # of votes |
% of vote |
# of overall seats won |
+/– | Govt? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 15,126 | 49.9 | 7 / 11
|
 3
|
Government |
| 2020 | 15,308 | 54.86 | 9 / 11
|
2
|
Government |
References
[edit]- ^ "Team Unity". Caribbean elections. Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
- ^ a b c Dixon, Loshaun (27 May 2022). "Team Unity: How it started, where it went wrong". The St Kitts Nevis Observer. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- ^ "DPM Richards reflects on Team Unity's five-year achievements". the Saint Kitts and Nevis Observer. 29 September 2018.
- ^ "2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Saint Kitts and Nevis". US Department of State.
- ^ "Citizens, residents applaud progress created by Team Unity". the Saint Kitts and Nevis Observer.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Government Politics of St Kitts and Nevis". Commonwealth Governance.
- ^ "Team Unity is the Only Team Capable of Advancing St. Kitts and Nevis, PM Harris says". South Florida Caribbean News.
- ^ "2015 Team Unity Government: A New Era in St. Kitts and Nevis". St Kitts and Nevis Flag.
- ^ "Ten National Unity Government Ministers Sworn in; three Nevisians among them". Nevis Pages. 23 February 2015.
- ^ "New St. Kitts-Nevis Cabinet sworn in". Caribbean Community. 23 February 2015.
| Current parties | |
|---|---|
| Defunct parties | |
