In Monday’s general election in St Lucia, the Allen Chastanet-led United Workers Party (UWP), best known for its late leader Sir John Compton, roundly defeated the Kenny Anthony-led St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) by 11 to six seats.

Scion of a wealthy and much-loved family — his dad is the highly regarded Michael Chastanet — the prime minister-elect was educated in the United States. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Bishop’s University and an master’s of science degree from American University in Washington, DC.

Mr Chastanet’s Jamaican connections include his service as vice-president for sales and marketing at Air Jamaica for 10 years during which he was regarded as a sort of wunderkind. After Air Jamaica, he followed his mentor, Mr Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart into the tourism sector, developing and managing his own resort, the Coco Palm Hotel in St Lucia.

Mr Chastanet entered politics when he was appointed a senator in 2006 and given the portfolio of minister of tourism and civil aviation. He served in those posts until 2011.

In 2013, he was elected leader of the Opposition United Workers Party and was elected to parliament in the 2016 general election, which had echoes of Jamaica’s February 25 polls, flavoured by offers of tax relief.

He has declared that it is his Government’s intention to increase the role of the private sector in the St Lucian economy to reverse the trend towards increased government participation under Dr Kenny Anthony.

Private sector growth will benefit from a reduction in VAT from 15 per cent to about 12 per cent and a reduction in the corporate tax rate to about 20 per cent to stimulate consumption.

The new PM has identified tourism as a sector to attract more direct foreign investment, increase cruise ship arrivals and airlift, and to improve relations with some prospective investors not favoured by the previous Administration.

With the tight fiscal limits, he proposes to increase government expenditure on capital projects/infrastructural renewal and direct more targeted assistance to the poor and indigent. He hopes to revive banana production and improve linkages between agriculture and tourism.

Like in Jamaica, the electorate expressed a willingness to trust a younger leader and to endorse a willingness to try some new policies. Hopefully, Mr Chastanet will be as successful in the public sector as he has been in the private sector where he does have a track record of getting things done.

Meanwhile, Dr Anthony’s SLP will go into the political pavilion to hope for another chance to bat after several electoral defeats.

Despite those defeats, he has managed to hang on as Leader of the Opposition and wait for the political pendulum to swing back in his favour.

This time, however, the electorate seems to be in a different mood. In Monday’s polls, the UWP made political history by taking the most seats it has ever won, including one seat which it has never won before.

In the new environment, Dr Anthony, who was three-times prime minister, has already signalled he may not stay on as Opposition leader or as head of the SLP.