Charlestown, Nevis (Saturday, January 5th, 2013)– Nevis Premier Joseph W. Parry announced Saturday night (Jan. 5) that Nevisians will go to the polls on Tuesday, Jan. 22. He also named Monday, January 14 as Nomination Day.

In a (15) fifteen minute simultaneous address on NTV Channel 8 and several other radio stations in the Federation, the Premier told Nevisians, “we do not need a long and drawn out period of campaigning, there is plenty of work to be done and we have, as an Administration, to hit the road running, very early in the New Year.”

“Fellow Nevisians”, he said “we stand on the cusp of a new year. A new chapter is about to be written about the evolution of these islands. The exciting feature of this development is that each of you, above the age of 18, has an opportunity, indeed a responsibility, to influence the crafting of history’s page.”

“We (Nevisians) hold the future of our beloved islands truly in our hands”, he said. “There’s much going on around us, as an island, a Federation and a Region, that we have little or no ability to determine. But there is the aspect of political, social and economic stability of Nevis, that we can very much influence, and here is where imminent general elections for a new Nevis Island Administration come into sharp focus.”

Speaking of his Nevis Reformation Party’s (NRP) performance-based first six years in office, the Premier said: “Fellow Nevisians, it is because we have labored as a team, that we have reaped the many successes this beautiful island of ours can point to over the past six years. In essence, we put Nevis first. We have done what was best for Nevis…..and Nevis is the better for it.”

He noted among the many achievements: maintaining high levels of employment in the public and private sectors; maintaining a healthy investment climate and open-door posture for investors, both local and foreign; confronting and tackling head-on the threat of the scourge of crime and anti-social behavior, and maintaining Nevis as an “oasis of peace”; and maintaining full scale social services, in particular, to the elderly and the disadvantaged.

He made special mention of former Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Mr. Hensley Daniel whom he said had presided over a period of phenomenal growth in the number and range of social services. “This is one of the reasons why I very much would like to see Hensley Daniel re-elected to the Nevis Island Administration, and re-instated as a minister, to resume the excellent work he was doing,” the Premier said.

Speaking of his commitment as leader of Nevis, he drew a sharp contrast between himself and the co-leaders of the Concerned Citizens Movement. “Now on this matter of putting Nevis first, one of the most significant developments since the dissolution of the Assembly (Nov. 8, 2011) here in Nevis has been the announcement by some in our midst (Mark Brantley and Vance Amory) of their intention to spearhead the formation of a coalition effort to govern the Federation.”

The move marks a complete 360 on the part of Vance Amory, who declared his CCM party neutral in 1993, and the flip-flopping of Mark Brantley who has often declared publicly that he wants no part of this “unholy union” (the Federation).

He said he (Premier Parry) had long determined that leadership of Nevis meant giving this beautiful island of ours 100 per cent of my focus and attention. “I recognize the need to cooperate and to assist wherever with the federal effort, but for years now I have assumed the posture as leader of the Nevis Reformation Party, of becoming 100 per cent Nevisian in my focus as your leader. I believe that Nevis deserves nothing less from its leaders at this particular juncture in our history.”

“It must therefore be a worry or concern to many”, he declared “that at a time when elections are imminent in Nevis, and at a time when Nevis needs all the focus and attention of its leaders, others (Brantley and Amory) would find time and opportunity to be actively pursuing the goal of entering into a federal coalition; not in a supportive role as in the Hon. Patrice Nisbett, in his role as Attorney General, but we are told, as leaders.”

“We need leaders on Nevis who are 100 per cent committed to the care of Nevis. That is what these elections will be about. They will be about determining and doing what’s best for Nevis,” Premier Parry said.

He concluded by stating that he prays for a clean and peaceful campaign.