Daughter of late St. Lucia premier wins his seat

The eldest daughter of Sir John Compton, St. Lucia's former prime minister and independence leader who died in September, won a special election to fill his legislative seat in the small Caribbean nation.

Jeannine Compton, a 37-year-old marine biologist, defeated four other candidates Monday to win the Micoud North seat and retain it for the ruling United Workers Party.

Compton died Sept. 7 at age 82, after a long political career in which he gained renown for guiding the tiny island to independence from Britain in 1979. He represented Micoud from 1954 to 1996, and again for the nine months before his death.

He was replaced as premier by Stephenson King, who had been acting prime minister since April when Compton suffered a series of strokes.