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Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves has named two opposition senators following the New Democratic Party’s sweeping victory in last month’s general election in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
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The November 27 poll delivered a decisive mandate to the New Democratic Party, led by Godwin Friday, which secured 14 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly. The outcome removed the Unity Labour Party from government and left Gonsalves as the sole elected opposition member, after the ULP was reduced from nine seats to one in its worst electoral performance since its formation.
In a Facebook video published Monday (December 22), Gonsalves announced that two ULP members who were defeated at the polls will be appointed as opposition senators, a move widely seen as an effort to strengthen the party’s parliamentary presence amid its diminished numbers.
The appointees are former tourism minister and former North Leeward MP Carlos James, who lost his seat to the NDP’s Kishore Shallow, and Keisal Peters, the ULP’s candidate for West Kingstown. Peters previously served as minister of national mobilisation and as foreign minister, and was defeated by NDP candidate Daniel Cummings.
The scale of the NDP’s victory has given the new government significant political capital and a clear mandate from voters, while presenting the opposition with the challenge of providing effective scrutiny with only one elected representative. Against that backdrop, the appointment of opposition senators is viewed as strategically important for maintaining parliamentary debate and oversight.
Gonsalves said that neither he nor the two newly appointed senators may be present for the first sitting of Parliament, scheduled for Tuesday, December 23.
The 2025 election marked the largest fall from government in the country’s history for the ULP, and the party’s poorest showing since its founding, while representing the NDP’s strongest performance since 1989.
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