ANTHONY

CASTRIES, St. Lucia (CMC):

Thousands of supporters of both the governing St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) and the main United Workers Party (UWP) took on the weekend in a last-lap campaign effort ahead of today's crucial general election.

The SLP will head for Prime Minister Kenny Anthony constituency of Vieux Fort South where the Caribbean's leading soca band - Byron Lee and the Dragonaires - will headline a cast of soca artistes in what has been dubbed 'campaign meltdown'.

The UWP, on the other hand, has planned a whistle-stop motorcade in all 17 constituencies which will culminate in the East Coast village of Dennery.

Yesterday, all 17 candidates in both camps will focus on zonal meetings where they will make a final bid for support today.

The final round of campaign activity will bring an end to what will go down as the country's longest election campaign which started in March this year with the Castries Central by-election which was won by independent candidate Richard Frederick, who has since teamed up with the opposition UWP.

Both parties have expressed confidence they will win the general election with two opinion polls favouring the SLP and another two favouring the UWP.

Most peaceful

Police Commissioner Ausbert Regis, while regretting a bottle-throwing incident in the West Coast village of Anse La Raye this week, said that aside, the 2006 election campaign, barring any further incidents, will go down as the most peaceful in the country's history.

"I don't want to speak prematurely, but it has so far been one of the more peaceful campaigns that we have had. But we really hope that the Anse La Raye incident is the last we will have, as we need to understand it is about mutual respect," he said.