The real winners of this elections

EDITOR: Permit me to forward an objective postmortem of the general elections held last week and the winners it revealed.

Of outstanding performance is the Honorable Dr. Godwin Friday, who is the only candidate to have beaten his opponent at every single polling station in his constituency.

He is very worthy of high commendation, especially since the leader of the ULP, the Honorable Prime Minister Dr. Gonsalves, nicknamed the “Five-Star General” and “World Boss”, did not accomplish this feat. 

Of notable mention is the Minister for South Leeward, Nigel Stephenson, who claimed the most votes for any candidate in the elections.

Also of notable mention is the New Democratic Party, which secured the popular vote, doing so for the first time in six successive elections. 

Of the five female candidates who contested this election, none gained as many votes as Laverne Velox, who has done extremely well in her first outing in the political arena against the Minister of Finance, Camillo Gonsalves. 

Merits of distinction must also be awarded to three other first-timers who claimed their seats, notably, the ULP’s Orando Brewster of Central Leeward and Curtis King of West St. George, and the NDP’s Fitzgerald Bramble, the Honorable Arhnim Eustace’s successor for East Kingstown. 

Standing ovation is also in order for the tens of thousands of Vincentians who believed in the machinery of the electoral process and for the ULP Gonsalves-led administration in securing an historic fifth term in office.

But the political victories of these men and women pale in comparison to the unsung victories of the women in our society who get up every morning, amid their many aches and pains; women who have come out of depression and survived domestic violence, who put on whatever clothes they could, to get to their workplace to work menial and low-paying jobs, among the many more unemployed; who walk around from stores to stalls looking for foodstuff for their household; who trudge with their bags quietly across the streets of Kingstown without song or fanfare, many of whom ask for nothing more than a little help, and who sometimes compromise their integrity because the livelihood
and education of their children are at stake, and who yet turned out in their thousands to vote on election day, not knowing what reward will come with that risk, they are the real winners of this election in my view. Let us not forget these women.

Rodcliff Noel