Today, Tuesday October 20th, 2020 is an important day in the lives of incumbent and hopeful constituency representatives across the political spectrum in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Nomination day is the process whereby prospective candidates are formally recognized as candidates by the Supervisor of Elections Office as being in good standing, having met the criteria to be on the ballot paper to be elected as a constituency representative.
Anyone who wishes to stand for election must be nominated on an official nomination paper submitted on Nomination Day. They must stand either for an established political party or as an independent. All candidates must pay a deposit which is lost if they do not secure a specified number of votes.
Subject to the provisions of section 26 of the Constitution, a person shall be qualified to be elected as a representative if, and shall not be so qualified unless, he:
is a Commonwealth citizen of the age of twenty-one years or upwards;
has resided in St. Vincent for a period of twelve months immediately before the date of his nominations for election or is domiciled and resident in St. Vincent at that date: and
is able to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or the physical cause, to read the English language with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take an active part in the proceedings of the House.
While the electoral landscape in St Vincent and the Grenadines like most other countries in the Caribbean is dominated by two major political parties, small entities have sprung up over the years as an alternative.
In recent times, only the St. Vincent Green Party led by Ivan O’neal has been consistent in nominating candidates.
Two other smaller political entities including the recently formed United Progressive Party (UPP) led by Mark Doyle and the Democratic Republican Party (DRP) previously led by Ms Anesia Baptiste are not expected to field any candidates in the upcoming general elections.
With elections just 16 days away, all eyes are on the incumbent Unity Labour Party (ULP) which is seeking an unprecedented five (5) terms in government and the major opposition party, the New Democratic Party (NDP).
The NDP launched its fifteen candidates last Sunday in Owia while the ULP will launch their team tonight at 8:00 pm a virtual public meeting.
Ballot Papers are expected to feature the following matchups:
North Windward
ULP- Montgomery Daniel
NDP- Shevern John
North Central Windward
ULP- Dr Ralph Gonsalves
NDP- Chieftain Neptune
South Windward
ULP- Frederick Stephenson
NDP- Noel Dickson
South Central Windward
ULP- Saboto Caesar
NDP- Israel Bruce
Marriaqua
ULP- St Clair Prince
NDP- Bernard Wyllie
East St George
ULP- Camillo Gonsalves
NDP- Laverne Gibson-Velox
West St George
ULP- Curtis King
NDP- Kay Bacchus-Baptiste
East Kingstown
ULP- Luke Browne
NDP- Dwight Bramble
Central Kingstown
ULP- Dominic Sutherland
NDP- St Clair Leacock
West Kingstown
ULP- Deborah Charles
NDP- Daniel Cummings