24 December 2025

The Eastern Caribbean political map shifted dramatically as one of the world’s longest-serving democratic leaders was voted out in St Vincent and the Grenadines, while Prime Minister Phillip Pierre tightened its grip on power in neighbouring St Lucia.

In Kingstown, Godwin Friday of the New Democratic Party (NDP) was sworn in as the country’s fifth Prime minister, ending Ralph Gonsalves’ near quarter-century at the helm.

Friday’s moderate conservative NDP won 14 of the 15 constituencies in the 27 November election, sweeping aside the Unity Labour Party (ULP), which had governed since 2001.

“The people have come out and said…We want a better future for ourselves,” Friday told hundreds of jubilant supporters. “I know that there are a lot of challenges ahead,” he said, acknowledging that governing would not be easy, but pledged to be a leader for all Vincentians.

St Vincent and the Grenadines remains heavily dependent on tourism and is still grappling with the lingering effects of the April 2021 La Soufrière eruption, and Hurricane Beryl in 2024.

Friday has promised to create more jobs, raise wages, improve security and invest in infrastructure, while his party has previously championed a citizenship by investment programme.

Gonsalves, who first became Prime Minister in March 2001, was re-elected to Parliament for an eighth successive time in North Central Windward as his parties sole winning candidate. He has vowed that the ULP will regroup in opposition. “Labour is very much alive. We shall rendezvous with the electorate formally again in 2030 or before, as the circumstances demand or admit,” said Gonsalves, declaring that the party is far from finished.

Friday has moved quickly to install a 17-member Cabinet, with himself also serving as Minister of Finance, Legal Affairs and Justice, Economic Planning, and Private Sector Development. Key portfolios include St Clair Leacock as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security and Immigration, Daniel Cummings at Health and Wellness and Energy, Nigel Stephenson at Transport, Infrastructure and Physical Planning, and Kishore Shallow as Minister of Tourism and Maritime Affairs.

While the labour party faltered in St Vincent, it surged in St Lucia, where Prime Minister Philip Pierre secured a second consecutive term with another landslide for the St Lucia Labour Party (SLP).

Results of the 1 December election, showed the SLP winning 14 of the 17 parliamentary seats, while two independent candidates aligned with the government, Stephenson King and Richard Frederick, also held their seats. The opposition United Workers Party (UWP) was reduced to a single seat, that of former Prime Minister Allen Chastanet.

“First of all, I would like to thank the people of St Lucia for conducting what was a very decent election, an election free from violence, and this is testimony to the maturity of our people and the maturity of our democracy,” said Pierre, hailing both the conduct and the meaning of the vote. He is the first Prime Minister in over a decade to win back to back elections in St Lucia.

Pierre was sworn in for a second straight term, telling St Lucians that he would “march forward with purpose, discipline, and confidence as we strive to make our island the best place to live and work.”

Highlighting his social agenda, he pledged to “address the basic needs of the vulnerable and differently able so that everyone can have a dignified existence,” and called for “zero tolerance towards all forms of deviant behaviour that is likely to destroy our society.”

Regional policitcal analsis Peter Wickham described the result as “an unparalleled success” noting that positive second-term swings are rare but signal that “people have reposed confidence in the government after one term.” At the same time, he contrasted St Lucia’s outcome with the fall of Gonsalves in St Vincent, underscoring that electoral currents in the Caribbean cannot be applied mechanically from one state to another.

In the wake of the defeat, Chastanet offered to step down as UWP leader after his second consecutive general election loss. However, as was the case following his resignation in 2021, the National Council of the party has again rejected Chastanet’s offer. Instead, he has been asked to remain at the helm of the UWP until at least the party’s next convention.

Taken together, the twin results mark a striking divergence in the fortunes of long-standing leaders and Labour parties in the Eastern Caribbean. Gonsalves exits office after 25 years, promising to rebuild in opposition, while Pierre consolidates his grip on power, buoyed by a renewed mandate to pursue his vision for St Lucia.

Source: Central America Briefing | Vol 13, Issue 24

Photo Reference: https://www.facebook.com/comraderalph?locale=en_GB