Editing History of Saint Lucia (section)

==20th century to 21st century==
[[File:Timbre SteLucie E2 couronnement 1953.jpg|thumb|140px|1953 stamp with portrait of [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]]]]
Increasing self-government has marked St Lucia's 20th-century history. A 1924 constitution gave the island its first form of representative government, with a minority of elected members in the previously all-nominated legislative council.

During the [[Battle of the Caribbean]], a German [[U-boat]] attacked and sank two British ships in [[Castries]] harbour on 9 March 1942.<ref name="Harmsen"/>{{rp|275}}<ref name="Hubbard">{{cite book|last1=Hubbard|first1=Vincent|title=A History of St. Kitts|date=2002|publisher=Macmillan Caribbean|isbn=9780333747605|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofstkitts00vinc/page/117 117]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofstkitts00vinc/page/117}}</ref>

Universal adult [[suffrage]] was introduced in 1951, and elected members became a majority of the council. Ministerial government was introduced in 1956, and in 1958 St. Lucia joined the short-lived [[West Indies Federation]], a semi-autonomous dependency of the United Kingdom. <!-- St. Lucia served as head of the newly formed federation for the next eighteen years. --> When the federation collapsed in 1962, following [[Jamaica]]'s withdrawal, a smaller federation was briefly attempted. After the second failure, the United Kingdom and the six windward and leeward islands—Grenada, [[Saint Vincent (island)|St. Vincent]], [[Dominica]], [[Antigua]], [[St. Kitts and Nevis]] and [[Anguilla]], and St. Lucia—developed a novel form of cooperation called associated statehood.

By 1957, bananas exceed sugar as the major export crop.<ref name="Harmsen"/>{{rp|303}}

As an associated state of the United Kingdom from 1967 to 1979, St. Lucia had full responsibility for internal self-government but left its external affairs and defence responsibilities to the United Kingdom. This interim arrangement ended on 22 February 1979, when St. Lucia achieved complete independence. St. Lucia is a [[constitutional monarchy]] with [[King Charles III]] as [[King of St. Lucia]] and is an active member of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]]. The island continues to cooperate with its neighbours through the Caribbean community and common market ([[CARICOM]]), the East Caribbean Common Market (ECCM), and the [[Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States]] (OECS).

In June 2016, the [[United Workers Party (Saint Lucia)|United Workers Party]] (UWP), led by [[Allen Chastanet|Allen Michael Chastanet]], won 11 of the 17 seats in the [[2016 Saint Lucian general election|general election]], ousting the [[St Lucia Labour Party]] (SLP) of the incumbent Prime Minister [[Kenny Anthony]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Allen Chastanet sworn in as new Saint Lucia Prime Minister |url=https://caricom.org/allen-chastanet-sworn-in-as-new-saint-lucia-prime-minister/ |work=CARICOM |date=7 June 2016}}</ref> However, Saint Lucia Labour Party won the next [[2021 Saint Lucian general election|election]] in July 2021, meaning its leader [[Philip J. Pierre|Philip J Pierre]] became the ninth Prime Minister of Saint Lucia since the independence.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pierre to be sworn in as Prime Minister {{!}} Loop St. Lucia |url=https://stlucia.loopnews.com/content/pierre-be-sworn-prime-minister |work=Loop News |language=en}}</ref>