Team Unity

Team Unity
LeaderTimothy Harris (PLP)
Deputy leaderShawn Richards (PAM)
Mark Brantley (CCM)
Founded2013
Dissolved2022
Succeeded byOne Movement
HeadquartersBasseterre,
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Membership3 parties
Slogan"Better Together"
National Assembly seats
9 / 11
(prior to dissolution in 2022)
Nevis Island Assembly seats
4 / 5
(prior to dissolution in 2022)

Team Unity was a political alliance and government coalition of three political parties in Saint Kitts and Nevis. It formed the government after winning the 2015 and 2020 elections. In 2022, major disagreements by CCM and PAM's leaders, Mark Brantley and Shawn Richards, with Prime Minister and PLP leader Timothy Harris, resulted in the Team Unity government collapsing and Harris calling a snap election.

History

Team Unity was created in September 2013 by three opposition political parties in Saint Kitts and Nevis: the newly founded People's Labour Party (PLP), a party founded by MPs who had split from the ruling Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party; the People's Action Movement (PAM); and the Nevis-based Concerned Citizens' Movement (CCM). PLP leader Timothy Harris was announced as leader of the alliance, with PAM leader Shawn Richards and senior CCM politician Mark Brantley becoming its deputy leaders. Harris stated that Team Unity was established for the purpose of ousting the Labour government under Denzil Douglas in an election and forming a government.

At the 2015 general election, the three parties ran on a joint platform and did not stand candidates against each other, with PAM and PLP standing in six and two seats respectively in Saint Kitts, and the CCM contesting all three in Nevis. The election saw the Team Unity alliance win seven out of eleven constituencies and a combined 49.9% of the vote, defeating Labour. Shortly after the election, Team Unity officially formed the government, with PLP leader Timothy Harris becoming Prime Minister, and various cabinet positions going to Team Unity MPs, including PAM leader Shawn Richards as Deputy Prime Minister and CCM's Mark Brantley as foreign minister.

At the 2020 general election, Team Unity further increased its representation to nine out of eleven seats and won a combined 55% of the vote. Harris again served as Prime Minister and Team Unity parties were assigned various cabinet roles once again.

In March and April 2022, various disagreements between Richards and Brantley with Harris culminated in an attempted vote of no confidence in Harris as Prime Minister. In early May, this request for a no confidence vote was denied by the Governor-General and Harris subsequently sacked six cabinet ministers, including Richards and Brantley, and dissolved parliament and called a snap election. In the 2022 Saint Kitts and Nevis snap election, the PLP ran candidates against PAM. However, PAM and CCM maintained a close partnership and formed a new alliance called One Movement, and released a joint manifesto.

The election saw all of the parties that had previously formed Team Unity lose the election, with Labour winning a majority and forming government.

Member parties

Below is a table of Team Unity's members and their representation just before the dissolution of the alliance:

Party Abbr. National Assembly MPs
(2020-2022)		 Nevis Island Assembly MPs
(2017-2022)
People's Action Movement PAM
4 / 11
 N/A
Concerned Citizens' Movement CCM
3 / 11
4 / 5
People's Labour Party PLP
2 / 11
 N/A

The alliance between the parties meant that they did not stand candidates against each other in general elections. The CCM only contest elections in Nevis anyway, with the other two parties therefore only contesting the St. Kitts constituencies.

Election results

National Assembly

Election year # of
votes		 % of
vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/– Govt?
2015 15,126 49.9
7 / 11
 Increase3 Government
2020 15,298 54.6
9 / 11
 Increase2 Government

References

  1. ↑ "INFORME PRELIMINAR DE LA MISIÓN DE OBSERVACIÓN ELECTORAL DE LA OEA PARA LAS ELECCIONES GENERALES DEL 5 DE AGOSTO DE 2022 EN SAINT KITTS Y NEVIS" (PDF). OAS. 15 August 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  2. ↑ "Team Unity". Caribbean elections. Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Dixon, Loshaun (27 May 2022). "Team Unity: How it started, where it went wrong". The St Kitts Nevis Observer. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  4. ↑ "DPM Richards reflects on Team Unity's five-year achievements". the Saint Kitts and Nevis Observer. 29 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Saint Kitts and Nevis". US Department of State.
  6. ↑ Office of the Prime Minister (5 December 2017). "TEAM UNITY GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO DEFY THE NAYSAYERS, SAYS PRIME MINISTER HARRIS". SKNIS.
  7. ↑ Team Unity (2 February 2015). ""Ending Dictatorial Policies" Opposition Says As Count Down Begins To St. Kitts/Nevis Election". SKN Vibes.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "SKN federal election results". SKN Vibes.
  9. ↑ "Citizens, residents applaud progress created by Team Unity". the Saint Kitts and Nevis Observer.[permanent dead link]
  10. ↑ "Government Politics of St Kitts and Nevis". Commonwealth Governance.
  11. ↑ "Team Unity is the Only Team Capable of Advancing St. Kitts and Nevis, PM Harris says". South Florida Caribbean News.
  12. ↑ "2015 Team Unity Government: A New Era in St. Kitts and Nevis". St Kitts and Nevis Flag.
  13. ↑ "Ten National Unity Government Ministers Sworn in; three Nevisians among them". Nevis Pages. 23 February 2015.
  14. ↑ "New St. Kitts-Nevis Cabinet sworn in". Caribbean Community. 23 February 2015.
  15. ↑ "St Kitts – Nevis cabinet of ministers announced". Caribbean News Global. 14 June 2020.
  16. ↑ "PAM & CCM launches joint manifesto "Moving Our People Forward" on July 26 in St Kitts and Nevis". Writeups24. 30 July 2022.
  17. ↑ "Months of tense political campaign turned into victory for SKNLP". WinnFM.com. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2025.