September 17, 2021
It’s official. Caribbean people are not playing games anymore with any political party or leader. There was another landslide victory in the region, ushering out the now former Free National Movement government led by Dr Hubert Minnis and bringing back the party of legacy in the Bahamas, the Progressive Liberal Party who themselves, lost just as disgracefully in the 2017 General Election as they won this new 2021 General Election.
Political Scientists have to wrap their heads around this phenomenon in the region as the only country not washed away in a massive landslide in the last 5 years has been Trinidad and Tobago. Everyone else, either the incumbent government or the opposition, was treated disgracefully at the polls.
Peter Wickham of the Caribbean Development Research Services told us that this would have happened to any incumbent government trying to hold elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the battle wore on against the virus, the more people began to hate the sitting government. We see it now!
How does this explain the landslides in Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2018 and 2020 respectively? Well for Grenada the landslide win came before the COVID-19 and in SVG, the sitting government had favour on their side in that while they did call elections in November of 2020, the opposition wasn’t as viable in any event. So not only did Dr Ralph Gonsalves look strong and stable in dealing with the pandemic, the opposition was equally as clueless and overwhelmed. However, Dr Gonsalves New Democratic Party did lose two more seats in the last General Election.
So it’s all a mixed bag here, but it is clear the COVID-19 has claimed another government.