Opposition Leader Godwin Friday says the climate of fear that developed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines after the Unity Labour Party (ULP) came to office in March 2001 is beginning to break.
iWitness News posed the question to him after the New Democratic Party (NDP), which he leads, selected another senior public servant as a candidate in the next general election.
The NDP’s constituency council in Marriaqua selected Phillip Jackson, the government’s science and technology coordinator, as their preferred candidate in that district.
The selection came four days after the NDP’s West St. George constituency council selected Assistant Comptroller of Inland Revenue Kaschaka Cupid as their preferred candidate.
The NDP had spoken about a climate of fear in the country that it has said has deterred some of its supporters from being vocal in that support.
“Well, I think the problem that we have in this country is that you’re quite right, that people look behind the shoulders when they’re talking and so forth, and especially young professionals, to put their hands up. They have family to look after and to think about and the future and so forth,” Friday told iWitness News.
“But now you see, in this present election, the country has come to a point where people are saying to the New Democratic Party, we want to put our hands up. We want to help you to change the government in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.”
General elections are widely expected next year, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline.
“And we’ve always said that we have a huge tent that we invite everyone, not just persons who voted for us in the past, but particularly those who didn’t, people who are disappointed and fed up with the government as it is now, and they want the New Democratic Party to be in office,” Friday told iWitness News.
“Come and join us and let us bring a movement together that will be unstoppable when the election is announced.”
The opposition leader spoke particularly to the young people who he said have been telling him that they are supporting the NDP.
“I met a few of them today in Kingstown, and they’re all telling me, ‘Friday, we’re with you. We want to bring this change. We are excited to be a part and to come out and vote, and I’m urging them to do so, get their friends and colleagues to register, and to take the responsibility to come out and vote, and bring the change that their parents and I know that they themselves want.”
He said the NDP has assembled “the best election team ever” in the country.
“This is the best election team ever that has been assembled here by any political party, and we are going to win this thing because the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines deserve it. Our country needs it. We need a change. We will bring it in 2025,” the opposition leader told iWitness News.
In October, Parliament passed legislation allowing public servants to contest national or local elections and suffer no loss of employment or benefits if they are unsuccessful at the polls.