St. Vincent & the Grenadines elections set for December 9

The people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines will held to the polls in a general election on December 9. Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves who made the announcement on Saturday night, told supporters that Nomination Day is November 20.

The ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) will face a challenge from the main opposition

New Democratic Party (NDP) headed by  economist, Arnhim Eustace.

The ULP was swept into office in March 2001 in an early election following political unrest one year earlier. In that poll, voters  rejected the NDP, which had been in office for 17 years.

The ULP won 56.5 per cent of the votes in the 2001 poll and 12 of the 15 seats in Parliament, compared to 40.9 per cent to the NDP, which took the remaining three seats.

In 2005, the ULP was returned to office by the same number of seats as 2001, and in the 2010 polls, the party captured 53 per cent of the popular votes, 2.4 percentage points more than in 2005.

The NDP, on the other hand received 50.4 per cent, capturing four additional seats in the process, but lost the election by an eight to seven margin.