Eustace claims election victory
TENSION APPEARS TO be on the rise in St Vincent and the Grenadines, where Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace have both declared their parties the winner of yesterday’s general election.
At the conclusion of counting just after 11 p.m. on Wednesday, the results announced said Gonsalves and his team had been returned to power for a fourth straight term with the same number of seats they held in the previous parliament.
The situation started to become confusing this morning, however, after Eustace declared that his New Democratic Party had won the Central Leeward seat by six votes, after electoral officials had declared it for the ULP’s candidate by a margin of 314 votes. This, he said, meant his party had won the government by eight seats to the ULP’s seven.
Media sources in St Vincent reported that the situation was compounded when the official public relations arm of the government announced the swearing in of Ralph Gonsalves as prime minister, his deputy and the attorney general would take place in the early afternoon, and Eustace called on supporters to block roads to Government House where the ceremony was slated to take place.
Just after midday, the sources pointed out, there was already a massive crowd of NDP supporters clad in yellow shirts blocking the Sion Hill road overlooking the Arnos Vale Airport and an even larger frenzied gathering around the Layou Police Station in Central Leeward, where the recount was expected to occur. (RRM)
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