Yearbook 2009
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. According to countryaah, the government Ralph Gonsalves, who won the parliamentary elections in 2005, is formally safe until the next election, but more and more cracks are now beginning to appear in the facade of the ten-year-old government building. The most difficult thorn was caused by the referendum in November, when the residents refused to allow the country to move from monarchy to republic. The United Party Labor Party (ULP), with Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves at the head, had prepared for six years the proposals for constitutional amendments that would form the basis for the change of state. These changes meant, among other things, that a president-elect would rule the kingdom. Nejsidan, led by the main opposition party New Democratic Party (NDP), warned that a transition to the Republic would mean that the country would approach Venezuela and its radically socialist President Hugo Chávez. More than half of the voters voted no to the Republic. For a transition, two-thirds of voters had been required to vote. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for abbreviation VC which stands for the nation of St. Vincent and The Grenadines.