FINALLY, Mr Wingrove George, the supervisor of elections in St Kitts and Nevis, has decided to announce the results of the general election held in that twin-island state on Monday.

Mr George, late yesterday, confirmed that Team Unity, an amalgam of three opposition parties, won seven of the 11 seats contested in the general election.

According to Mr George, his decision not to make the results public earlier yesterday was due to “certain processes” that had to be completed. He also offered as excuses, challenges and reviews, arguing that it would be very unprofessional of him to have made an announcement “because if anything was to take a different turn” he “would have had to be updating and retracting statements”.

“It is just to make sure the information reported is really the fact, and to do it hastily would and could ensure you aren’t reporting the facts,” he said.

We are not in a position to doubt Mr George at his word. However, he should have considered the fact that choosing to remain silent on election results for almost 24 hours had the potential of inciting civil disorder.

His action was not only unprecedented, it was disgraceful and an embarrassment to the Caribbean Community.

Normally in general elections in the Caribbean, and in some jurisdictions with advanced technology, the results of voting are known the same night.

Sometimes, in close elections, the results would become available late in the night, and in a few seats which are very close there is a preliminary declaration with the knowledge that there will be a recount the next day.

Given that the electorate in St Kitts and Nevis is less than 30,000, there should have been no difficulty in tallying the votes. In addition, there were no reports of irregularities by the international team of election observers and no complaints of unfair conduct by any of the candidates in the election.

Mr George, we notice, did not elaborate on the challenges his office faced in counting the votes. Maybe he would like to enlighten the people of his country and the wider Caricom.

The general election was conducted peacefully. It was long delayed because Prime Minister Dr Denzel Douglas was able to block a no-confidence motion which was called for in the Parliament in December 2012. That unfortunate action has sullied the record of Dr Douglas, who has served four terms as prime minister.

That the delayed announcement of the results happened on his watch as prime minister is further embarrassment to him — a man who has contributed much to his country and to Caricom.

Thankfully, peace prevailed throughout this debacle and Team Unity did the responsible thing of appealing for calm.

Our congratulations to the victors. We hope they will govern with fairness, transparency and responsibility.