Opposition NDP sweeps Gonsalves’ ULP out of power in St Vincent election

Goodwin Friday, leader on the New Democratic Party and prime minister-elect of St Vincent and the Grenadines. -

Goodwin Friday is set to become the new prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines as his New Democratic Party (NDP) has brought political titan Ralph Gonsalves' decades-long reign as the country's leader to an end.

The NDP – the outgoing opposition – won the country's general election on November 27, defeating Gonsalves' Unity Labour Party and thwarting his bid for an unprecedented sixth consecutive term. Preliminary results showed the NDP secured 11 of the 15 parliamentary seats.

Both parties fielded 15 candidates each, with two independent female candidates also participating in the election. Friday, 66, who holds a doctorate in political science, has been an MP for 23 years, representing North Grenadines.

TT prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has hailed Friday, and the NDP's win that patterned her own UNC party's victory, moving from opposition to government in the April 28 general election when it unseated the PNM.

Ralph Gonsalves, incumbent prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines. -

"...I congratulate the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on a successful general election, where a resounding democratic mandate was given to the New Democratic Party (NDP) and Dr Godwin Friday, the Prime Minister-Elect. I commend the citizens of Saint Vincent for upholding the highest ideals of democracy. May God bless the newly elected government as they begin this new chapter of service to the people of Saint Vincent," Persad-Bissessar in a post on X on Thursday night.

Two days before the polls, Gonsalves, 79, had warned TT nationals, naming eight lawyers, who he accused of working with the NDP to "rig" the election. He chided that if any TT lawyer was working in St Vincent they were at the risk of doing so illegally, if they did not have Caricom skills national certificate, as only people from Barbados, Belize and Dominica could enjoy freedom of movement based on an agreement the four countries signed on to in October.

He had claimed Marabella West councillor John Michael Alibocas, aka Makamillion, was set to lead TT entertainers who were to campaign for the then opposition against his administration, but they had seen the wisdom of not doing so.

Moreso, Gonsalves, his Trinidadian wife Eloise and their children Storm and Soleil found themselves in the centre of a dispute with Minister in the Housing Ministry Anil Roberts who revealed they own three apartments at the upscale HDC development, Victoria Keyes, in Diego Martin, and been favoured by the former PNM government for the units. Roberts has accused Gonsalves of failing to declare his and his family's interests. The HDC, now under the UNC government's oversight, is probing the Gonsalves family's purchase of the apartments..

Aside from claims of electoral interference, Gonsalves sought to convince Vincentians to continue to trust his leadership as they had done for 24 years. Reuters reports the election marked a "clear ideological contrast" between Gonsalves’ ULP and Friday's NDP.

"While the ULP campaigned on maintaining the current foreign policy trajectory, the NDP advocated for a strategic pivot towards closer relations with China and a move to CBI," said Reuters.

Gonsalves has been a supporter of the Nicolas Maduro-led regime in Venezuela, which has been declared a terrorist organisation by the US amid military tensions in the region. Gonsalves criticised the TT government's support of US military action, although he has claimed he respects Persad-Bissessar.

While he and his party have been swept out of office, Gonsalves is reported to have retained his Windward seat.