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Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. (iWN file photo)
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. (iWN file photo)

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says that his government is prepared to work with whomever the electorates in Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados elect to run the affairs of their respective countries in upcoming elections.

The Grenadian electorate will elect a new government on Tuesday, March 13, and voters in Antigua and Barbuda will go to the polls on March 21.

The life of the Barbadian parliament automatically ended on March 1, but Prime Minister Freundel Stuart is yet to announce the date for elections in that CARICOM nation.

But Gonsalves told a press conference in Kingstown on Monday that he does not think that the outcome in St. George’s or St. John’s would have any untoward impact on issues within the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, a grouping of close economic and political union, of which Kingstown is also a member.

“All the parties are pro-integration parties. But I must say this to you, I have found that the way that both [prime ministers] Keith Mitchell [of Grenada] and Gaston Browne [of Antigua and Barbuda] handled the problems which were upon them in their respective countries and in the integration movement, they have handled them with aplomb,” he said when asked how he thinks the outcome of those elections could affect regional issues.

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“I am not endorsing. I am just being honest about what I have seen over the last few years,” Gonsalves, however said.

The Vincentian leader said that his Unity Labour Party has not endorsed any of the political parties vying for elections in the various jurisdictions.

Last week, former deputy speaker of the national assembly in Kingstown, Rochelle Forde, a former ULP senator, delivered a speech at a rally of Nazim Burke’s opposition National Democratic Congress, which some persons interpreted as an endorsement of the party.

At the meeting, Forde brought “warm fraternal greetings from political leader, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and all the members of the Unity Labour Party in St. Vincent.”

She further said: “They have asked me to convey all success to you at your youth rally and to let you know they are here with you in political spirit and solidarity as you get yourself ready for victory on the 13th of March 2018”.

But Gonsalves told the media, “An endorsement can only come from the political leader of the ULP and there is no endorsement.”

Gonsalves, who came to office in March 2001, noted that he has been Prime Minister of SVG when both major political parties in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Barbados have headed the government.

“I’ve had excellent relations with both parties,” he said of Antigua and Barbuda, adding, “the same thing in Grenada.”

“I work with whoever the people of the country elect and I say I have very good personal relations with them. Same thing in Barbados,” he said.

“I think in the OECS, and if we focus on that, and those are the two countries where we have had closest relations, I have found that the work which we have done with Keith Mitchell and his NNP (New National Party) — that we have done very good work together.

“Similarly, we have done very good work with Gaston Browne and his Labour Party. The leader of the UPP (United Progressive Party) in Antigua and Barbuda, Harold Lovell, though he did his degree in geology, he used to come and audit many courses in social sciences when I used to be a lecturer at the university so I know him as a student and I used to do lectures and he attended them.

“So I know all the personalities involved but I’ve done very good work with both Gaston Browne and also with Keith Mitchell.”

4 replies on “Gonsalves not endorsing any party in C’bean elections   ”

    1. Maybe he learned his lesson by supporting the former government in St. Kitts and a former Government in St. Lucia and lost those times. In those cases the people did not want those leaders and Gonsalves was made to look stupid. Gonsalves verbally supports the people but in reality he supports only money and power. Normally that is how to win…but sometimes the people get so fed-up that even cheating on elections is not enough; see the last US Presidential Election.

  1. There has been an air of dislike between DREGs and Mitchell for years now, particularly since Mitchell voiced to the US Embassy in Barbados that DREGs had somehow talked Chavez out of giving [or limiting] funding to Grenada.

    The difference is Mitchell is fiscally more astute than DREGs who has proved to be a fiscal dunce.

    1. True! Gonsalves may not be as stupid in Economics as his record shows. Maybe his very poor performance is on purpose. He has certainly become a wealthy man, and I am not saying he is stealing money. As you know, there are political philosophies that intentionally seek to impoverish the masses and enrich the few. There are theories that say poor people are easier to control. We cannot deny that it at least appears to be the case in Saint Vincent.

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