Dr Anthony’s election follows the appointment of Micoud North MP Jeremiah Norbert as the Minister responsible for Crime Prevention and Persons with Disabilities.

Former PM Anthony has decades-long experience as an Attorney-At-Law and politician, notably leading the Saint Lucia Labour Party to a 16-1 parliamentary majority in 1997.

Current Prime Minister, Phillip J. Pierre, says an SLP administration will adhere to the provisions of all the laws of Saint Lucia.

“Mr. Speaker, there has always been the policy and the philosophical position of governments to follow the constitution. This country, under the last government, operated for five years without a deputy speaker. We spoke about it and we promised the electorate that when in government we would ensure that there was a deputy speaker,” Pierre said ahead of Dr Anthony’s election.

The Prime Minister also clarified the misrepresented statements by the UWP, saying that the government never stated that it would elect an outside person to be Deputy Speaker.

“I informed the public of Saint Lucia that the next sitting of this honourable house we would have elected a Deputy Speaker. And the Deputy Speaker would have been either from inside the house or outside the house. Either a member of the House or a member who is not presently a member of the House. I never made any statement to say that the Deputy Speaker would be a member not of the House. I said it would be a member either in the House or out of the House.”

Ahead of the sitting, Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet questioned the government’s legality in appointing an individual who is not an MP to be Deputy Speaker. Again, Chastanet called for an additional amendment to section 31 of the Constitution.

Prime Minister Pierre says the issue will be decided by the Appeals Court.

“The Leader of the Opposition asked the Attorney General whether he can consider what is called an Attorney General’s Reference, where the [AG] seeks from the Appeals Court an opinion on something. We wrote [Allen Chastanet] back saying that we are going to be doing it. We asked him for his input, but we’ve not yet received it,” Pierre said.

Dr Anthony was elected unopposed.