The 2025 electoral cycle across the Caribbean nations of Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Lucia has been marked by campaigns of unprecedented scale and extravagance, rivaling major concert events in their production value. This phenomenon has raised critical questions about the sources of funding for these political spectacles, complete with massive quantities of promotional materials and entertainment services.
Political analysts and transparency advocates warn that these increasingly costly campaigns pose a fundamental threat to democratic integrity, creating pathways for corruption and money laundering while simultaneously fostering an ‘election economy’ that temporarily boosts local businesses through massive spending on performers, production crews, catering services, and various vendors.
The Organization of American States (OAS), which has consistently monitored elections throughout the CARICOM region, has repeatedly called for comprehensive campaign finance legislation to ensure transparency and accountability. Their recommendations for Saint Lucia specifically include prohibiting anonymous and foreign contributions, establishing regulatory bodies, mandating public disclosure of funding sources, and implementing measures to address gender inequality in political financing.
UN Women has emphasized the global consensus on creating equitable conditions for female candidates, noting that financial disparities in political campaigns have created significant barriers to women’s participation. Despite these international calls for reform, successive administrations in Saint Lucia have failed to implement meaningful changes, ignoring both OAS recommendations and earlier constitutional reform proposals dating back to 2011.
The current system allows major political parties to guard their funding sources as closely held secrets, with donors ranging from business interests and expatriates to corporations, overseas financiers, and potentially even criminal networks operating without scrutiny. This absence of regulatory frameworks means parties face no limitations on fundraising or expenditures, creating an environment where policymaking becomes susceptible to influence from major donors and organized crime.
Transparency advocates argue that genuine anti-corruption efforts must begin with campaign finance reform, implementing greater accountability measures that would rebuild public trust and counter the perception that politicians are effectively for sale. Such reforms should be complemented by strengthened enforcement of existing integrity legislation and extended oversight to include party finance committees.
The fundamental principle that ‘Saint Lucia is not for sale’ must extend beyond foreign investment concerns to encompass all aspects of democratic processes, ensuring that elections, voters, parties, and candidates remain free from financial coercion and undue influence.