The curious case of the Southern Grenadines

By Jemalie John

“The Unity Labour Party (ULP) won the popular vote on the mainland.” These are the words of Ralph Gonsalves as he offered his post-election analysis after the 2020 election. His words were often repeated because the New Democratic Party (NDP) secured 32,900 votes, winning the popular vote for the first time since 1998.

His argument troubled me because St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is one multi-island country and not a combination of separate countries. Residents of Friendship, Ashton and Charlestown are as much Vincentian as residents of Park Hill, Sandy Bay and Layou.

However, Gonsalves was willing to completely disregard and discredit the voice and vote of Grenadine residents to hold onto an illusion of a majority vote in favour of the ULP.

His argument is just as absurd as saying the NDP won majority constituencies — if you don’t count North Central Windward and East Saint George. Thankfully, no NDP politician is sufficiently silly to advance such an argument. My readers, when it comes to the majority vote, all votes count in the same way that all constituencies count. There is no such thing as calculating a majority vote by disregarding certain votes.

What made it worse for me is that the prime minister spent much of the 2020 campaign repeating that citizen is the highest office in the land, higher than prime minister or governor general. Yet, in the aftermath of the election, one had to wonder if Grenadine residents were citizens of SVG at all, since in his analysis, their votes were either completely irrelevant or, at the very least, carried less weight than votes on the mainland. This article could have easily been titled “Vincentian enough”.

As we continue to assess the 2025 election cycle, let us pause to read Psalm 118:22 (NLT) “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” All of a sudden, people who did not even count five years ago are now centre stage.

Ask any supporter of the ULP this question: What is the relevance of a majority vote on the mainland? (60 marks). There is only relevance or merit if you perceive Grenadine residents as being either less than or not truly part of us. In his quest to sustain an illusion, Gonsalves gave a nation insight into his own thinking.

If the disrespect ended there, it would still be bad, but it gets worse. On July 1, 2024, SVG was ravaged by Hurricane Beryl, and our Grenadine brothers and sisters bore the brunt of the storm. Lives and livelihoods were lost and properties were destroyed. Where we saw trauma, death and destruction, the ULP saw only political opportunity. For them, this is OK since Grenadine residents are nothing more than second-class citizens who happen to carry the same passport.

At the opening of the Ferry Terminal in Union Island, Gonsalves was comfortable saying that he is using taxpayers’ money to buy appliances in an attempt to bribe Grenadine voters to change their political allegiance. It did not occur to him that he could have simply said that the government was playing its role because Grenadine residents are also citizens and taxpayers and the government has a responsibility to utilise externally sourced aid and mobilise government resources to alleviate suffering. No, he sent the message loud and clear that the appliance distribution and home reconstruction have more to do with his own political survival than the well-being of hard-hit hurricane victims. His presentation then and their campaign now reveal the prostitution type transactional relationship we now have with our elected representatives.

Chevonne Stewart has only echoed these sentiments. In an interview with Sehon Marshall, she asserted that the only way the Southern Grenadines will get proper representation is if they have a seat in cabinet. It is anybody’s guess what the role and function of the director of grenadines affairs is. No vote for ULP means no proper representation — regardless of their contribution to the government treasury. By publicly laying that indictment against the ULP leadership, Stewart cemented herself as the most politically unaware candidate contesting the upcoming general election and should always be properly scripted whenever she speaks publicly. Who should write her script is anybody’s guess because her leader surely does not have the political acumen to script for a Grenadine contest.

Here are some more facts:

The NDP was founded by Sir James Mitchell in 1975 and contested their first general election in 1979. The NDP has won the Grenadine vote in every election since 1979 over the course of 10 election cycles spanning 46 years. Not only that, but Sir James Mitchell started his political career in the year 1966 in the Grenadines constituency and won in his first outing. Even before founding the NDP, Sir James Mitchell secured the trust and respect of the Grenadine people and they have faithfully voted in his and his party’s favour for an unbroken 59 years and counting. Needless to say, the ULP has never won either of the Grenadine seats since their founding in 1994 and if Gonsalves is of the view that it is impossible for the NDP to win any constituency between West Saint George and North Windward on the basis that the NDP has never won any of those seats since 2001, then where does his thesis go in relation to the Southern Grenadines? Gonsalves, PhD is contradicting his own thesis and failing a very simple test.

I will never say that ULP winning the Southern Grenadines is impossible, but I will say this: if it is possible for the ULP to win Southern Grenadines, it is even more possible that the NDP can sweep the windward seats. This is not political brilliance on my part; it is simple logic and Gonsalves must either concede the point or change the thesis.

More facts: the margin of victory for the NDP in 2020 was the largest margin the NDP ever enjoyed in the Southern Grenadines since the ULP was founded. The margins of victory from 1998 to 2020 are outlined below:

• 1998 — 401 votes
• 2001 — 183 votes
• 2005 — 259 votes
• 2010 — 472 votes
• 2015 — 412 votes
• 2020 — 587 votes

These results are not by coincidence, they are a reflection of 24 years of Grenadine neglect by the current Administration; neglect that the ULP hopes is forgotten in exchange for a fridge and a sheet of galvanise.

My next article will be entitled “Eight will always be more than seven”. I will, in that article, using publicly available data, rubbish the argument of eight safe seats for the Unity Labour Party.

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