Global IssuesST. VINCENT: Govt Suffers Major Defeat Over New Constitution
Even after he cast his vote in Wednesday's referendum, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves was still singing the praises of the new constitution that the St. Vincent and the Grenadines parliament had passed by a two-thirds majority last month.
Gonsalves said that the seven year-exercise of public consultations and parliamentary debates on the new charter, to replace the one created when the islands gained independence from Britain in 1979, should be seen as having 'lit a beacon to shine a light, to illuminate the pathways against the remnants of colonialism in the interest of our people's humanisation'.
But in the end, the more than 97,000 voters did not buy his argument. Political observers said they instead responded to a call by the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) to make the exercise a referendum on the governing Unity Labour Party (ULP) that has been in power since 2000.
'Whether the government can recover and rebuild is left to be seen. Everybody seems to suggest it's a political vote, and if it is a political vote, it's serious stuff,' said attorney and political commentator Andrew Cummings.
He warns that the government should examine its policies ahead of the general election due here next year.
Preliminary figures released by the Elections Office showed that those opposed to the 'home grown' constitution that the government had been pushing totaled 29,019 as against 22,493 in support of the document that would have also paved the way for St. Vincent and the Grenadines to join the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) while abandoning the London-based Privy Council as the island's final court of appeal.
The government needed 66.7 percent of the votes cast in Wednesday's referendum for the constitution the opposition had argued would have strengthened the prime minister's position in the country, warning of his 'dictatorial and draconian style leadership'.
'[The results] may strongly suggest that a change of administration is around the corner,' said Anesia Baptiste of the Thusian Institute for Religious Liberty, which joined with the NDP in campaigning against the bill.
'It says the people did not want the bill, but it may also be saying that they no longer want the ULP,' she added.
The results showed that the 'Yes Vote' received 43.1 percent while those opposed had a resounding 55.6 percent support.
Social activist and political commentator Renwick Rose said while the opposition could use the results of the referendum to press the government for early general elections, he does not see the government falling into that trap.
'If you put it this way, a government with 43 percent at a referendum has to listen to the people if it wants to recoup its fortunes. I think tonight the eyes of the world are thinking about our maturity,' Rose said.
He said that it was interesting that Vincentians had voted in favour of a constitution handed down by London in which they played no role instead of the 'home-grown' one being pushed by the government.
The charter would have replaced the queen of England as head of state with a president chosen by Parliament.
Rose, who also served on the Constitution Review Committee, said the results showed that had it been a general election, the opposition would have won 13 of the 15 constituencies.
He said that a number of Caribbean countries have started discourse about constitution reform and were looking at St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a vanguard in this regard, but with the massive rejection at Wednesday's referendum, he doubts whether regional governments would be further inclined to take the process forward.
The political commentator said that while the discussion on the issues was extensive during the campaign over the six years, they were not always intensive and that he was he was disappointed that after the country got to the 'political season' the debate had broadened to include issues irrelevant to the constitution.
Neither Gonsalves nor the NDP leader Arnhim Eustace has made any public comment following the release of the preliminary results, but Cummings, said arrogance and the unwillingness of the government to give way on small matters of differences with the opposition and other citizens during the drafting stages of the constitution may have influenced the rejection of the document.
'This is an exercise in democracy...this is a referendum on the government, both parties have time to re-think their positions,' he added.
Baptiste said that voters have 'officially killed the bill with which they had serious grievances and the government is obliged to listen to their voices'.
'The government owes the people an apology for the contemptuous attitude displayed to the people by them and for the insults through bribe attempts and tactics,' she said, adding that citizens were called 'juveniles' and 'uninitiated in the law'.
'Well the so-called 'recalcitrant minorities' have spoken, Dr. Gonsalves, and it has proven to be an even larger majority than what the ULP received when it last took office,' she added.
The final weeks of the campaign for the referendum had been marred by allegations of financial impropriety from both major political camps, with the prime minister raising the stakes by hinting at the possibility of foreign interference.
Gonsalaves said that foreign elements were providing support to the opposition party in the hope of benefitting from an economic citizenship progarmme through which local passports would be sold to foreign investors.
'We have taken the high road on this issue. There is no way that an issue of economic citizenship can be salvaged by this government,' Gonsalves said, noting that this is among the reasons why his government had gone to Parliament to repeal the Economic Citizenship Programme Bill of 1996.
'We are fundamentally opposed to selling our passport. The idea for us of selling citizenship is...wrong,' he added.
Eustace scoffed at Gonsalves's accusation, before leveling his own that U.S. currency had found its way into the personal bank account of the prime minister and members of his family.
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service