St Vincent Opposition leader, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, has launched a blistering public attack on the New Democratic Party (NDP) government, accusing its leadership of pushing St. Vincent and the Grenadines toward a dictatorship. In a recent public address, Gonsalves warned the nation and the international community that the country’s democracy is under “serious threat” due to a frantic attempt by the NDP to alter the constitution and protect its own members.
The controversy centers around active election petitions challenging the legal eligibility of NDP leader Godwin Friday and Fitz Bramble. According to Gonsalves, evidence shows both politicians voluntarily acquired Canadian citizenship, which historically disqualifies them from being elected under the 1979 constitution’s rules regarding allegiance to a foreign power.
However, rather than allowing the Court to rule on the live case, Friday has introduced two bills to amend the constitution and the Representation of the People Act retroactively. These amendments would explicitly declare that Commonwealth nations like Canada are not “foreign powers,” effectively changing the rules from 1979 onwards to ensure Friday and Bramble win their court case.
Gonsalves forcefully characterized this legislative maneuver as the hallmark of a totalitarian regime. He called the NDP’s actions a “creeping dictatorship” and stated that using a parliamentary majority to intervene in a live judicial dispute is exactly “how dictatorships behave”. Highlighting the self-serving nature of the bill, Gonsalves pointed out the absurdity of a respondent in an active court case writing the very legislation meant to acquit him.
To drive his point home, Gonsalves sarcastically welcomed Friday to a “dictator’s club,” comparing him to entrenched authoritarian figures such as Omar Bongo of Gabon, Paul Biya of Cameroon, and Xi Jinping of China. He further labeled the NDP leadership as “wannabe dictators” who are choosing self-preservation and the retention of power over the rule of law. Furthermore, he suggested that this subversion of the judiciary represents the “formal starting point of dictatorial rule” in the nation.
“You really can’t run the race and then move the finish line afterwards,” Gonsalves argued, emphasizing that if a government can rewrite laws mid-stream to protect itself, then the legal system is rendered meaningless. He warned that this “bareface, wicked, worthless, undemocratic” use of parliamentary power destroys the separation of powers and sets a dangerous precedent where constitutional rights could be stripped away at any moment.
Declaring that the country is on a “slippery slope to undemocratic rule,” Gonsalves warned that passing this retroactive legislation will inevitably plunge St. Vincent and the Grenadines into “political chaos and ruination”. In response, he has called for a national political mobilization.
He is urging the Governor General to intervene and refuse to assent to the bills, while simultaneously calling on the Christian council, trade unions, civil society, and citizens across all villages to take to the streets and fight this “malignant constitutional amendment”