On 7 October 2004 Prime Minister Denzil Douglas announced that 25 October 2004 would be the date for general elections six months earlier than they would have been due.

Mr Douglas who had taken over the leadership of the then opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKLP) in 1989 had led the party to its first election victory in July 1995 when he had defeated the People's Action Movement (PAM) the party that had taken the country into independence in 1983. In the 2000 general elections the incumbent ruling SKLP won its second term in office while the main opposition PAM failed to win a seat in the 11-member House of Representatives. In addition to these two parties a third party the United National Empowerment Party (UNEP) of Dr. Henry Browne was in contention in St. Kitts.

None of these parties contested any of the three seats at stake in St Kitts' sister island Nevis where according to analysts Premier Vance Amory's Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) was again expected to retain majority control with two of the three seats. The Nevis Concerned Citizens Movement (NCCM) was predicted to retain the seat it held in the outgoing legislature.

Nevis which has a population of about 11 000 people also has its own separate island government and the Concerned Citizens Movement of Nevis campaigned on a policy of seeking independence for the smaller island. Although tension remained over St Kitts-Nevis governance relations during the SKLP's second term both Prime Minister Douglas and Premier Amory had succeeded in avoiding conflicts that at one stage made Nevis' secession a very strong possibility. Nevis came close to seceding in a 1998 referendum falling just short of the required two-thirds majority. The Constitution enacted when the islands became independent from Britain in 1983 spelled out Nevis' right to hold such a vote.

A total of 30 candidates were nominated to contest the General Elections in the 11 constituencies: In St. Kitts: People's Action Movement (PAM) - 8; St. Kitts Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) - 8; United National Empowerment Party (UNEP) - 7; Independent - 1. In Nevis: Concerned Citizens' Movement (CCM) - 3; Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) – 3.

During the electoral campaign Prime Minister Douglas attributed St Kitts and Nevis' improved rating on the United Nations Human Development Index to what he said was his government's "progressive social and economic policies". The new rating 39 up from 51 in 2003 had placed the twin-island State of some 38 700 people at the top of the scale among countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and second only to Barbados in the region.

The opposition People's Action Movement for its part focused its campaign on unemployment poverty and crime as well as the weak economy as a result of low levels of tourism and a fading sugar and banana industry. Opposition leader Mr. Lindsay Grant criticised unemployment estimated at more than 10 per cent and a national debt that had grown to nearly Eastern Caribbean dollars 2 billion (i.e. US$742 million).

An electoral monitoring mission from the Caribbean Community as well as observers from the Commonwealth Secretariat observed the elections.

Prime Minister Douglas was returned to office as his St. Kitts Labor Party won seven seats while the eighth seat on St. Kitts went to the PAM. In Nevis the Concerned Citizens Movement of Premier Vance Amory held on to its two seats with the third being retained by the Nevis Reformation Party.

On 26 October 2004 Mr Douglas was sworn-in as the Federation's Prime Minister for a third term.

Voter turnout was 58.5%.