Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2023)

3.   Disqualification for election to House of Assembly on account of Interest in Government contracts

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   (1)   Subject to the provisions of this section a person shall not be qualified to be elected as a member of the House of Assembly if he or she, or any firm in which he or she is a partner or any body corporate which he or she controls, is a party to any contract made with the Government of the Territory, or a department of that Government, or an officer of that Government contracting as such, for the sale or lease of land (including any interest in or over land), the sale of goods, or the rendering of services, by that person or by that firm or body corporate.

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   (2)   A person shall not be disqualified to be elected, as a member of the House of Assembly by virtue of the preceding subsection—

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      (a)     if, at the date of his or her nomination for election, the obligations imposed by the contract on him or her, or on the firm or body corporate aforesaid, have been wholly performed or are unenforceable;

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      (b)     by reason only of a contract for the sale of goods where the amount or value of the consideration does not exceed the specified amount and the sale does not form part of a larger transaction or series of transactions in respect of which the amount or value, or aggregate amount or value, of the consideration exceeds the specified amount;

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      (c)     by reason only of any contract made under any arrangements for providing guaranteed prices or assured markets for producers generally of any produce, being arrangements made by or under any law in force in the Territory;

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      (d)     by reason only of any contract made under an obligation imposed by or under any law in force in the Territory;

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      (e)     by reason only of any contract under which professional services to members of the public are rendered, wholly or partly at the public expense, in pursuance of arrangements for the provision of such services by members of a profession generally;

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      (f)     by reason only of any contract made by that person in the capacity of a member of the Government of the Territory or by any body corporate which he or she controls in that capacity; or

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      (g)     by reason only of any contract made by that person in the capacity of a member of any board, panel, committee or other similar body (whether incorporated or not) established by any law in force in the Territory or of any contract made by any body corporate which he or she controls in that capacity.

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   (3)   A person shall not be disqualified to be elected as a member of the House of Assembly by reason of such a contract as is referred to in subsection (1), if, within one month before the date of election, he or she publishes in the official Gazette of the Territory and in a newspaper circulating in the electoral district for which he or she seeks election a notice setting out the nature of that contract and his or her interest in it.

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   (4)   For the purposes of this section—

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      (a)     a person controls a body corporate if he or she has the power to secure, by means of the holding of shares or the possession of voting power in or in relation to that or any other body corporate, or by virtue of powers conferred by the articles of association or other document regulating the constitution of that or any other body corporate, that the affairs of the first mentioned body corporate are conducted in accordance with his or her wishes; and

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      (b)     “specified amount” means $120 or any other sum that is substituted by any law of the Territory.