KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (CMC):
THE RULING Unity Labour Party (ULP) wrapped up its campaign for today's general election, predicting an "overwhelming" defeat for the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is also predicting that Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace would be among the casualties in the December 7 polls for the 15 seats at stake in the new Parliament.
HEADING FOR DEFEAT
"The opposition is headed not just for a normal or a comfortable defeat; they are heading for an overwhelming defeat. So they are seeking in advance to raise these red herrings to cast doubts on a process, which is free and fair," he said in dismissing suggestions that the polls would be "less than free and fair".
Gonsalves said the NDP had been complaining about "every single thing" including the electoral law and described the Supervisor of Elections, Rodney Adams, as "honest and straight forward".
Eustace has accused Adams of being a "very politically bias man" and that he had "absolutely no confidence" in him - "none whatsoever".
But Gonsalves countered that that during the last few elections the Supervisor was the brother of a NDP official.
"The former Supervisor of Elections was the brother of an NDP candidate. It was known what his politics was. But I never thought that his politics was going to interfere with his judgement in a professional capacity."
Gonsalves, saying he was unaware of the political leanings of Adams, said nonetheless "the point is this people would have political views. This current Supervisor is as honest and straightforward a man as you can get."
He said "everything" was being done "in accordance with the law".
Gonsalves said he had come to the conclusion that Vincentians were not prepared to vote into office another NDP government.
"You can sense it. You can sense that there is no desire on the part of the electorate as a whole to change the government," he said, predicting also that the NDP would also record a decrease among the popular votes.
"The opposition got 40 per cent of the votes last time. They are going to get less this time," Gonsalves claimed.
He said that the turnout at his Unity Labour Party's (ULP) rally showed that that party was the most popular among the electorate.
"When you have people turning out like that every night, you find it difficult to say that that party is going to lose the elections. It will come as a total surprise to the electorate," Gonsalves said.
"People prefer Ralph rather than Eustace to be leader of the country than Eustace at this time. Maybe another time they may prefer Eustace but these challenging times they need a man like Ralph. And they say it and they know it and the polls indicate that," Gonsalves said.
The two main political parties here wrapped up their campaign on Monday night with large rallies in capital Kingstown.
The Jamaican group, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires brought the curtains down on the ULP rally in West Kingstown while the NDP held its rally in the East Kingstown community of Sion Hill.
St. Lucia's Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony on Monday night followed a list of regional leaders who have endorsed Gonsalves candidacy for the poll that is also being contested by the small SVG Green Party that political commentators say will not be a factor in the outcome of the elections.
