Already St Kitts and Nevis, which was the first to be held on February 16, 2015, has seen a change in the fortunes of the incumbent regime. After twenty years in office the St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party headed by Dr Denzel Douglas saw a shocking reversal of fortunes after been upstaged by a grouping of coalition parties headed by Dr Timothy Harris.

Douglas was accused of corruption by the opposition and for two years refused to allow Parliament to hear a motion of no confidence proposed by the parliamentary opposition. He had witnessed the resignation of two senior members of his party Deputy leader Sam Connor and foreign minister Dr Timothy Harris.

In the end the electorate voted resoundingly against him awarding 7 of the 11 seats at stake to the coalition Team Unity party.

Guyanese will go to the polls on May 11, 2015 and already opinion polls are showing that the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) of Donald Ramotar will have a hard time defeating the Partnership for National Unity led by retired army commander Brigadier General David Granger.

The mainland South American country has witnessed a great deal of political intrigue in the past few months and the administration has been widely accused of corruption, using hit squads to take out suspected criminals and other human rights abuses, and turning a blind eye to the drug trade.

Although the PPP has been in office since 1992, Ramotar only assumed the presidency following the general elections of November 28, 2011 when his party won 32 of the 65 seats at stake. In November 2014 he suspended Parliament in order to preempt a vote of no confidence from the Parliamentary opposition.

Two weeks following the Guyana elections on May 25 voters in neighboring Suriname will go to the polls. Recent opinion polls show that former military strongman and president Desi Bouterse will win reelection. In the last election of July 19, 2010 he easily won 36 of the 50 parliamentary seats.

Bouterse appears to be in a very strong position despite being sentenced by the Netherlands to 11 years in prison for drug trafficking and accused of widespread human rights violations when he was military strongman during 1980 – 87.

Although no date has been set for elections in Trinidad and Tobago the five year mandate of the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Kamla Perssad Bisseseur expires on May 25, 2015. The last five years have proved very tumultuous with several firings of key ministers, scandals and other political intrigue.

The country is also struggling to curb a marauding murder rate that runs close to one every one and a quarter days, rampant drug trafficking, widespread corruption and accusations of personal enrichment of those close to the seat of power.

This situation is exacerbated by falling oil prices, which has severely curtailed government revenue for the oil rich Republic and depressed economic growth.

Perssad Bisseseur is facing a stiff challenge from the People’s National Movement of opposition leader, Keith Rowley, who appears poised to take over the reins of power.

Just North of Trinidad and Tobago, the man who has served as prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines for close to two decades will be facing arguably the strongest challenge of his political career; one which he is widely expected to lose. Elections are constitutionally due by December 2015.

In the last election of December 13, 2010 Gonsalve’s Unity Labour Party barely squeaked through with an 8 to 7 Parliamentary seat win over the opposition New Democratic Party headed by Arnhim Eustace.

Gonsalves will undoubtedly be pointing to his recent completion of an international airport, leaving Dominica as the only CARICOM country without such a facility, as one of the main reasons why he should be reelected.

So with 2015 beginning on a note of change in a well-entrenched political regime within CARICOM the leaders of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and St Vincent and the Grenadines will be hoping that they don’t suffer a similar fate.