Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea, where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean.
Politics of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines takes place in the framework of a parliamentary democracy. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an independent Commonwealth realm, with Charles III as its king, represented by a governor-general, who acts on the advice of the prime minister and the cabinet. The prime minister is the leader of the majority party of the House of Assembly, and the cabinet conducts affairs of state. The governor-general exercises ceremonial functions, but reserve powers, under the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines constitution, can be used at the governor-general's discretion.
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often have a different title. The terms congressman/congresswoman or deputy are equivalent terms used in other jurisdictions. The term parliamentarian is also sometimes used for members of parliament, but this may also be used to refer to unelected government officials with specific roles in a parliament and other expert advisers on parliamentary procedure such as the Senate parliamentarian in the United States. The term is also used to the characteristic of performing the duties of a member of a legislature, for example: "The two party leaders often disagreed on issues, but both were excellent parliamentarians and cooperated to get many good things done."
Ralph Everard Gonsalves is a Vincentian politician. He is currently the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the leader of the Unity Labour Party (ULP).
Official party status refers to the Westminster practice which is officially used in the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures of recognizing parliamentary caucuses of political parties. In official documents, this is sometimes referred to as being a recognized party.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines elects a legislature on the national level. The House of Assembly has 21 seats: 15 members elected for a five-year term in single seat constituencies and six appointed senators. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party.
The Unity Labour Party (ULP) is a democratic socialist political party in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Currently the governing party, it is led by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.
Arnhim Ulric Eustace is a Vincentian retired politician and economist. He served as the third Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and is the former longtime leader of the opposition and former president of the New Democratic Party (NDP) after resigning in 2016.
The National Assembly is the bicameral legislature of the nation of Belize. It is divided into the House of Representatives, with 31 members, elected by universal suffrage, and the Senate, with 13 members, appointed by the Governor-General in consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The presiding officer of the House is the Speaker, while the Senate is presided over by the President.
The House of Assembly is the legislature of Dominica. It is established by Chapter III of the Constitution of Dominica, and together with the President of Dominica constitutes Dominica's Parliament. The House is unicameral, and consists of twenty-one Representatives, nine senators, and the Attorney General as an ex officio member. The Speaker of the House becomes the thirty-second member if chosen from outside the membership of the House.
The National Assembly and the King of Saint Christopher and Nevis jointly make up the legislature of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
The Parliament of Saint Lucia is the bicameral legislative branch of the government of Saint Lucia. It consists of the King, who is represented by the governor general, and the 2 parts of the legislature, the Senate and the House of Assembly.
The monarchy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The current Vincentian monarch and head of state, since 8 September 2022, is King Charles III. As sovereign, he is the personal embodiment of the Vincentian Crown. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. However, the King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
General elections were held in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on 15 June 1998. Although the Unity Labour Party (ULP) received a majority of the public vote, the New Democratic Party (NDP) won a majority of seats, the first time the party receiving a majority of the vote had failed to win the elections since 1966. Voter turnout was 67%.
General elections were held in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on 9 December 2015. The result was a victory for the Unity Labour Party, which retained its one seat majority. However, the NDP has challenged the results in two constituencies, North Windward, and Central Leeward.
General elections were held in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on 5 November 2020. Nomination day was 20 October 2020. The result was a victory for the Unity Labour Party, its fifth in a row; the party won nine of the fifteen seats, gaining one seat. These elections marked the first time since 1998 that the party which received the most votes did not win the most seats and the first time since 1994 that the New Democratic Party won the popular vote.
Alphonso Alpheus Dennie was a Vincentian educator who served as the Minister of Education, Community Development and Youth Affairs from 4 May 1972 to 18 September 1974. Outside of politics, he was the headmaster of schools both in the country as well as in Barbados. He spent the latter part of his career as chairman of the national electricity company and as chairman of the philatelic bureau.
Rochelle Forde is a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines lawyer and politician who has been Speaker of the country's House of Assembly since November 2020.
Girlyn Miguel is a Vincentian educator and politician who served in the Parliament of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines from 1998 until 2015. A member of the Unity Labour Party, Miguel also served as deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015, becoming the first woman to hold the position.
