St Vincent and the Grenadines

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Country in the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea, part of the Windward Islands.

Government
The constitution dates from independence in 1979. The head of state is a resident governor general representing the British monarch. The governor general appoints a prime minister and cabinet, drawn from and responsible to the assembly.

There is a single-chamber 21-member legislature, the House of Assembly, comprising 15 representatives elected by universal suffrage, and six senators, 4 appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister, and 2 on the advice of the leader of the opposition. The assembly has a life of up to five years.

History
The original inhabitants were Carib Indians. Columbus landed on St Vincent in 1498. Claimed and settled by Britain and France, with African labour (see slavery), the islands were ceded to Britain in 1783.

Independence
Collectively known as St Vincent, the islands of St Vincent and the islets of the northern Grenadines were part of the West Indies Federation until 1962 and acquired internal self-government in 1969 as an associated state. They achieved full independence, within the Commonwealth, as St Vincent and the Grenadines, in October 1979.

Until the 1980s two parties dominated politics in the islands, the St Vincent Labour Party (SVLP) and the People's Political Party. Milton Cato, SVLP leader, was prime minister at independence but was challenged in 1981 when a decline in the economy and opposition to new industrial-relations legislation resulted in a general strike.

Cato survived mainly because of divisions in the opposition parties, and in 1984 the centrist New Democratic Party (NDP), led by an SVLP defector and former prime minister, James Mitchell, won a surprising victory. He was re-elected in 1989, his party winning all the assembly seats. The NDP was again successful, but with a reduced majority, in the February 1994 general election. In 1994 a new opposition, left-of-centre party, the United Labour Party (ULP), was formed by a merger of the SVLP and a smaller party. In August 2000, Mitchell gave up his post as leader of the NDP in favour of the finance minister Arnhim Eustace. This followed popular protests against cronyism in the NDP. In October Eustace also took over as prime minister, although Mitchell remained a cabinet minister.

In March 2001, parliamentary elections were won by the opposition ULP. Ralph Gonsalves became prime minister.

The arms show a Bible open at the Gospel of St John, a Trinitarian symbol. The white cross symbolizes faith. The arms appear on national and state flags. Effective date: 14 September 1863. >>