Gibson-Velox vs. Gonsalves in East St. George

By Demion McTair. Updated 10:35 p.m., then at 10:52 p.m., Wednesday, July 29, 2020, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).

Kingstown, St. Vincent (ONE NEWS SVG) – The 2020 election race in East St. George, the largest constituency of registered voters, will likely take place between former banker, Lavern Gibson-Velox and incumbent, Finance Minister, Camillo Gonsalves.

Gibson-Velox was chosen as the candidate for the opposition New Democratic Party on July 29, 2020, when the party’s East St. George Constituency Council met and voted. She received 14 votes.

The other hopefuls in the candidate selection race for the constituency were Renson Haynes and Adrianna King who each received three votes.

Party Chairman for the NDP East St. George Executive, Mr. Colin Graham posted on Facebook that Lavern Gibson-Velox’s name “will now be forwarded to the central executive of the NDP for ratification”.

EAST ST. GEORGE CONSTITUENCY

First timer – Camillo Gonsalves amassed over 3,135 votes (54.89 percent of the votes) to secure the seat against 3 other contenders in 2015. Source: Caribbean Elections.

The St. Georges (West St. George and East St. George) are considered to be safe seats for the incumbent Unity Labour Party (ULP), as the party has won the seat for the last five general elections (1998 to 2015). But, the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) will be trying to make inroads in the constituencies.

Camillo Gonsalves, who is the son of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves won the constituency in the 2015 General Election, his first time contesting in a general election. He succeeded Clayton Burgin who won the seat three times and left undefeated.

Once the ratification process is complete and all things remain unchanged, Gibson-Velox will officially succeed Dr. Linton Lewis as the NDP’s candidate for the constituency.