Why Dr. Ralph Gonsalves Must Step Down: A Critical Reckoning After a Historic 14–1 Electoral Defeat

The views expressed herein are solely those of the writer, and the writer would prefer to remain anonymous.

The 14–1 electoral massacre suffered by the Unity Labor Party (ULP) is not merely a defeat, it is a political earthquake that exposes deep structural decay within the party and, more pointedly, within the leadership model cultivated by Dr. Ralph Gonsalves over his 24-year reign. This unprecedented loss to the New Democratic Party (NDP) is a decisive message from the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines that the era of Ralph Gonsalves must come to an end. For the health and survival of the ULP, and even his own legacy, Gonsalves must relinquish leadership immediately.

Gonsalves has been the leader who never prepared the ULP for life after him. One of the most glaring failures of Dr. Gonsalves’s long tenure is that he never recruited or developed a young, vibrant successor capable of taking the party into the future. For a leader in power for a quarter of a century, this is an astounding dereliction of strategic responsibility. Instead of building institutions, mentoring emerging thinkers, or fostering internal competition, Gonsalves centered the party around himself, cultivating dependence rather than preparing for continuity. Yes Vincentians, it is he who has always been the one obsessed with power. This failure is now on full, embarrassing display. When a party collapses 14–1, it is because the leader built a machine around his own personality while neglecting the political ecosystem needed for long-term survival.

The attempt to hand-pick his son further damaged the ULP. Rather than allowing the party to choose a successor organically, Gonsalves tried to anoint his son Camillo as the heir apparent. But the Vincentian public has never warmed to Camillo, and his political connection has remained weak at best, something he Camillo, seem to acknowledge in his commendable concession speech. Worse, Camillo himself seemed uninterested in the throne his father kept trying to build for him. Apparently, he attempted to resign as finance minister on several occasions.

This failed dynastic project not only undermined internal party democracy, but it stalled the rise of more capable, more respected, and more grounded leaders. In politics, succession must be earned, not inherited. Gonsalves refused to accept this. Now the party is paying the price. For years he marooned Saboto in the Ministry of Agriculture while giving the uninterested Camillo opportunities to improve his resume hoping to convince the rank and file of the party that he was ready for leadership.

At 80 years old, Gonsalves was simply out of step with modern politics. An eighty years that is now showing. His political instincts, once sharp, have dulled. His style, language, and strategic thinking are relics of a political era that is no longer relevant. The electoral wipeout is not only a rejection of his policies; it is a rejection of a leader who is visibly tired, outdated, and no longer able to connect with a rapidly evolving electorate. Youths who once tolerated his dominance and vile rhetoric now see it as an aberration. Middle-aged voters who once admired his intellect now view him as a figure blocking progress. And older voters who once valued his experience now acknowledge the reality: every leader has a shelf life, and he has now reached his sell by date.

The ULP must now choose a leader through real internal democracy. The leadership vacuum created by Gonsalves’s refusal to step aside is now painfully obvious. The party must return power to the rank and file, to the broad base, to the members who kept ULP alive long before and long after election cycles. They, not Gonsalves, must select the next leader. As the old proverb warns: “When one man holds the candle too long, everyone else is left in the dark.” Several strong contenders already exist, individuals far more aligned with the country’s present and future needs. There are several young contenders who could rebuild the party. But they were never given the chance to flourish because the space around them was hollowed out by Gonsalves’s dominance. They must now challenge the maximum leader at his most feeble and wounded state. If not now, when?

The overdependence on Gonsalves has devastated the party’s internal strength. For too long, the ULP operated as though it could not exist without him. Ministers deferred to him reflexively. Senior civil servants, conditioned by years of centralization, genuflected to him. ULP sycophants accepted, excused, and defended his falsehoods and the many credible accusations against his character. The party’s messaging revolved around him; its organizational machinery was structured around his personality rather than around shared principles or institutional integrity. One leadership maxim feels written for this moment: “If the institution depends on the man, the institution is already dying.” 

This was not accidental. This was deliberate political engineering. A masterstroke he would say.
The same strategies Gonsalves used to weaken or intimidate the NDP were also used within the ULP itself. The party became a tool for his personal power, not a democratic institution capable of renewal. What happened on election day was therefore inevitable. When a party is built around one man, the moment that man falters, the entire structure collapses with him. 

For me, Gonsalves’s legacy is irreparably tarnished by his weakening of institutions. Although many praise him as a brilliant tactician and an exceptional election winner, the uncomfortable truth remains he has not built excellent institutions, either within his party or within the country. In fact, a compelling argument can be made that he actively weakened key institutions, undermined independent voices, and personalized power structures to secure his own dominance. These tactics may have won him elections, but they left both the ULP and the national political system fragile, hollow, and vulnerable. This election result, though long in coming, is the reckoning for that approach.

But beyond the internal interests of the ULP, a strong and vibrant opposition party is essential for a healthy democracy in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The country needs robust opposition. Democracy requires balance, scrutiny, and choice. That cannot happen if the ULP remains chained to an octogenarian leader who has just been rejected by an overwhelming majority of the electorate. Dr. Ralph Gonsalves must therefore resign as leader of the Unity Labour Party. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Now! His continued presence will suffocate the party’s recovery, block the rise of new leadership, and further damage whatever remnants remain of his political legacy.

Major Leacock has long observed that Ralph Gonsalves has always been a transactional, not a transformative leader. He has also noted that every organization Gonsalves leaves eventually collapses. And the record supports this claim. The ULP must now work tirelessly to prove Leacock wrong. I hope, sincerely, that at least this time he is wrong.

Gonsalves’s 25-year reign ended in a 14–1 rejection. The voters have spoken with historic clarity. The party must move on without him.
For the sake of the country’s democracy, the future of the ULP, and his own dignity, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves should step aside immediately. 

“When the people close the chapter, the leader should not keep rewriting the page.”

But do you think he will?

At the time of writing, Gonsalves had still not called the newly elected Prime Minister, Dr. Godwin Friday, to offer even the most basic gesture of democratic decency. In any functioning democracy, this is routine, a simple act that signals respect for the people’s will and the peaceful transfer of power. His silence, however, is telling. It is not an aberration but a pattern. For decades, Gonsalves has governed with the thin-skinned petulance of a man who mistakes himself for the institution, and now, even in defeat, he cannot rise to the level of statesmanship.

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