The People's Action Movement (PAM) is a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in the island nation of
Saint Kitts and Nevis. The party currently holds one of the 11 seats in the
National Assembly. PAM operates only in
Saint Kitts and for the
2022 general election is in a 'One Movement' alliance with the
Concerned Citizens' Movement (CCM) operating in
Nevis, following the breakdown of the governing
Team Unity alliance. PAM is a member of the
Caribbean Democrat Union, the regional affiliate of the
International Democrat Union and shares close links with other centre-right party members in the Caribbean such as the
Jamaica Labour Party.
History
The party first contested national elections in
1966, when they received 35% of the vote and won two seats.
[ Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', pp576-578 ] Their electoral share was reduced to a single seat in the
1971 elections, but they regained a second seat in
1975. In the
1980 elections they won three seats, and were able to form a coalition government with the
Nevis Reformation Party to oust the
Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) from power for the first time since
1952. PAM leader
Kennedy Simmonds led the country to independence in 1983, and the party won six of the eleven seats in the
1984 elections to remain in power. They again won six seats in
1989. The
1993 elections saw PAM and the SKNLP win four seats each.
Constance V. Mitcham, the first women to sit in the national assembly, was elected as a PAM candidate in 1984 and served until 1995.
The PAM remained in power, but early elections were held in
1995, which saw the PAM reduced to just one seat (with Simmonds losing his). They lost their single seat in the
2000 elections, but regained it in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
, with Shawn Richards winning constituency no. 5. In the
2010 elections the PAM won two seats.
Lindsay Grant served as Leader of the PAM until his resignation in July 2012.
After Grant's resignation,
Shawn K. Richards and Eugene A. Hamilton contested for the party leadership in 2012; Richards came out the victor and became the fourth leader of the PAM and Hamilton became the deputy leader.
Team Unity
Prior to the
2015 general elections, the People's Action Movement formed a political alliance, known as
Team Unity, with the
Concerned Citizens' Movement (CCM) from sister island
Nevis and the newly formed
People's Labour Party, which was led by former SKNLP members
Timothy Harris
Timothy Sylvester Harris (born 6 December 1964) is a Saint Kittitian and Nevisian politician, who served as the third prime minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis from 2015 to 2022. He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 10 August 20 ...
and
Sam Condor. The alliance ended in 2022.
Leadership
*
William Valentine Herbert, 1965-1975
*
Kennedy Simmonds, 1975-2000
*
Lindsay Grant, 2000-2012
*
Shawn Richards, 2012-2024
*
Natasha Grey-Brookes, 2024-
Election results
References
External links
Official website
Political parties in Saint Kitts and Nevis
International Democracy Union member parties
1965 establishments in Saint Kitts and Nevis
Political parties established in 1965
Conservative parties
Republican parties
Republicanism in Saint Kitts and Nevis
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