People's Action Movement

History

The party first contested national elections in 1966, when they received 35.0% of the vote and won two seats. They were reduced to a single seat in the 1971 elections, but regained their second seat in 1975. In the 1980 elections they won three seats, and were able to form a coalition government with the Nevis Reformation Party to oust the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) from power for the first time since 1952. PAM leader Kennedy Simmonds led the country to independence in 1983, and the party won six of the eleven seats in the 1984 elections to remain in power. They again won six seats in 1989. The 1993 elections saw the both parties winning four seats.

Constance V. Mitcham, the first women to sit in the national assembly, was elected as a PAM candidate in 1984 and served until 1995.

The PAM remained in power, but early elections were held in 1995, which saw the PAM reduced to just one seat (with Simmonds losing his). They lost their single seat in the 2000 elections, but regained it in 2004, with Shawn Richards winning constituency no. 5. In the 2010 elections they won two seats.

Lindsay Grant served as Leader of the PAM until his resignation in July 2012. After Grant's resignation, Shawn K. Richards and Eugene A. Hamilton contested for the party leadership in 2012; Richards came out the victor and became 4th Leader of the PAM and Hamilton became Deputy Leader.

Team Unity

The People's Action Movement formed a political alliance with the Concerned Citizens' Movement (CCM) from sister island Nevis and the newly formed People's Labour Party, which as is led by former SKNLP members Timothy Harris and Sam Condor.