One of world’s longest serving democratic leaders loses election in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves talks to journalists during a news conference at the end of the third EU-CELAC summit in Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Francois Walschaerts, File)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday swore in a new prime minister for the first time in 24 years after Godwin Friday of the New Democratic Party beat Ralph Gonsalves of the Unity Labour Party.

Gonsalves was first elected in March 2001, making him one of the world’s longest serving democratic leaders in recent history.

He was a staunch supporter of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Gonsalves’ party posted a brief statement on Facebook following Thursday’s election: “We love you, SVG, and we will keep working and advocating for you. This is not the end, it is the beginning.”

Friday’s moderate conservative party won 14 of the 15 constituencies in the eastern Caribbean archipelago.

“The people have come out and said...’We want a better future for ourselves,’” Friday said as hundreds of people gathered in the capital, Kingstown, to support him, many blowing vuvuzelas in excitement.

“Friday! Friday! Friday!” they chanted as they welcomed him as he stepped off a boat onto the main island of St. Vincent.

He noted that his campaign began with village meetings as support began to grow.

“I know that there are a lot of challenges ahead,” he told the crowd.

Hours later, Friday was sworn in during a brief and somber ceremony. He pledged to uplift living standards and be a prime minister to all regardless of their politics.

“We know we are a poor country, but we can do a lot more with what we have than what we are doing currently,” he said.

Friday has promised to create more jobs, raise wages, improve security and invest in key infrastructure in the country of more than 100,000 people.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is heavily dependent on tourism, has an 18 per cent unemployment rate, a 26 per cent poverty rate and is still struggling to recover from the April 2021 eruption of La Soufrière volcano.

Friday’s party has previously advocated for a citizenship by investment program and for closer ties with China, while Gonsalves’ party had long maintained strong relations with Taiwan.

Under Gonsalves, St. Vincent and the Grenadines signed a free movement deal last month that would make it easier for its citizens to move to certain countries in the Caribbean without needing a visa or work permit.

Gonsalves also helped organize an emergency meeting between the leaders of Venezuela and Guyana, who arrived in St. Vincent in December 2023 to address a bitter border dispute.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness wrote Friday on social media that Gonsalves has been a strong voice within Caricom, a regional trade bloc, “consistently advocating for deeper regional cooperation and a more integrated Caribbean community.”

“His passion for regionalism and his unwavering belief in the value of collective action have helped to shape many important conversations across our Community,” Holness wrote.

Holness also congratulated Friday and said he looked forward to working with him: “His election signifies a new chapter for the Vincentian people.”

On Friday, Maduro’s government expressed its willingness to work with Friday as it thanks Gonsalves, calling him “a Caribbean leader whose commitment to regional integration and the defense of Caribbean interests has been exemplary.”

Friday previously ran against Gonsalves in the 2020 election and lost.

Hundreds of supporters clad in yellow and blue spent most of Friday in Kingstown to support the new prime minister. Some crowded over a coffin assembled from cardboard and covered in campaign posters from Gonsalves’ party as they blew vuvuzelas over it.

Later in the day, they released the coffin at sea and bade farewell.

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Associated Press videographer Kenton Chance in Kingstown, St. Vincent, and Jorge Rueda in Caracas contributed to this report.

Dánica Coto, The Associated Press