By Observer
If our numbers are right, it would mean that our African brothers and sisters have taken up the offer by Prime Minister Gonsalves to “regularise” their status in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
We’ve counted at least 35 students who have so far received ID cards, and therefore registered to vote for the first time in the next general elections.
Perhaps there are other categories of persons, but we only focused here on those who are students. The majority are in the West St. George constituency. West Kingstown is next, followed by East Kingstown and East St. George.
This is one topic that has garnered mixed reviews. Some say that they are our brothers and sisters, and we must welcome them. Others say that Vincentians often go to other countries and attempt to do the same thing. Meanwhile, others compare this to the utterances made towards our Garifuna brothers and sisters, who were not so welcomed to their ancestral homeland.
Regarding voting, others are concerned that some persons could just pop into the country, issue a vote, and then leave the country and never live under the administration of the government for which they voted; leaving others to face the consequences.
Either way this is turned, it appears as though we are on our way to having a fair number of eligible African voters, voting for the first time in the next general elections. One vote in North Leeward is the difference in the makeup of the current Parliament.
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