Do not think for a minute that if the judgement on the elections petitions are returned in favour of the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and the NDP ends up with 8 seats and the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) is reduced to 7 seats that the NDP will walk into government the next day.
\nThat is the message that former Prime Minister and founder of the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) Sir James Mitchell is hoping party members and supporters will understand.
\n\u201cPay attention to the Constitution of St Vincent and the Grenadines and the powers of the Prime Minister, the powers of the office of the Prime Minister. There\u2019s no way, if NDP wins, that tomorrow we walk into government. Please forget about that. Get that clear,\u201d Sir James said as he appeared earlier this week on the \u2018OMG in the Morning\u2019 interactive programme hosted by Dwight \u2018Bing\u2019 Joseph and aired on BOOM FM.
\nSir James highlighted 3 scenarios: a win for NDP; NDP loses and Prime Minister Gonsalves and his government win; and NDP goes to appeal.
\nSir James said that if NDP loses, it will be a political decision going forward. He said that it is not merely a question of the legal and constitutional process but above all it is about political choice.
\n\u201cIn other words, if NDP lose, it is a political decision and not a legal decision,\u201d he said.
\nSir James said he hoped that many people accept that appealing the judgement, if it is not returned in NDP\u2019s favour, should not be the automatic response of the NDP.
\n\u201cForget about the laws… You must make a distinction between the legal situation and the political situation,\u201d Sir James said.
\nThe former Prime Minister further said: \u201cNow, let me repeat, if NDP wins, is there a by-election to take place? The Judge cannot order a by-election. The Judge can only give judgement on the petition before him about irregularities.\u201d
\nNow, if the irregularities mean that the elections were not won, there has to be a by-election. Immediately, if there is a by-election, the ball is in the court of one man \u2013 Ralph E Gonsalves. Not that I love Ralph but I know what the constitutional position is, and we\u2019ve got to understand that.
\nSir James said that the constitution prescribes certain procedures so it is up to Prime Minister Gonsalves, if he loses and he takes the initiative away from the NDP. He reiterated that if the NDP wins the initiative is still with Prime Minister Gonsalves.
\nLeader of the Opposition and NDP president Dr Godwin Friday has already stated that the NDP will appeal the decision if it does not win the election petitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Do not think for a minute that if the judgement on the elections petitions are returned in favour of the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and the NDP ends up with 8 seats and the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) is reduced to 7 seats that the NDP will walk into government the next day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n