BRIDGEPORT, Barbados — Against the backdrop of ongoing post-general election controversy in Dominica, leaders of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) were yesterday gathering in Basseterre, the capital of St Kitts and Nevis, to sign a treaty for the inauguration of an economic union in 2010.

It may be coincidental that Bassetterre — which was the venue for the signing in June 1981 of the treaty that created the OECS — is currently in a state of intense preparation for new general elections.

The date is expected to be disclosed shortly, possibly as soon as this Saturday by Prime Minister Denzil Douglas when he hosts his media-focused annual New Year’s Gala.

One of Douglas’ heads of government colleagues for yesterday’s Basseterre event was the recently re-elected Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit, whose political opponents launched this past weekend a “Movement for Restoration of Democracy” (MRD) to expose, what they said were widespread electoral malpractices in the December 18 poll.

The opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM) of Lindsay Grant has been confidently predicting at election campaign meetings the demise of Douglas’ incumbent St Kitts Labour Party which is seeking a fourth consecutive term.

It is a prediction not supported by the most recent opinion poll conducted by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES).

CADRES had also given thumbs up for the return to power of Skerrit’s Dominica Labour Party which, from various reports, was extraordinarily well-funded, including by the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez.

For his part, Prime Minister Douglas hopes not only to garner some political advantage from hosting yesterday’s slated OECS Economic Union event, but also from having for his annual gala, the former long-serving prime minister of Jamaica, PJ Patterson as special guest and keynote speaker. A good occasion, it seems, to announce the election date.

Yesterday’s scheduled signing ceremony for the proposed OECS Economic Union Treaty would have lost some of its much anticipated political lustre by being reduced to the status of just an “initialing” event.

That was due to an unexpected failure in arrangements to have the completed text ready for heads of government to secure prior cabinet approval with the intention of the signed document in Basseterre subsequently being approved by the parliaments of participating countries.

The expectation now is that the historic economic union treaty will be ceremonially launched early in 2010, given the firm commitment of the governments of the OECS subregion.

In a number of areas, the OECS has managed to demonstrate more cohesion in the pursuit of policies on social political and economic issues than member states of the wider Caribbean Community (Caricom).

A relevant example is their collective preparation to facilitate the free intra-regional movement of their nationals to live and work in that subregion — a situation that contrasts with the double-speak and social/political tension in some non-OECS member countries of Caricom.

Meanwhile, Skerrit — who was announced long before the December 18 general election to host the first Inter-Sessional Meeting of Caricom leaders in the first quarter of 2010 — has an immediate political challenge to manage.

It is coming from the fledgling MRD over alleged electoral malpractices, sources of foreign funding and claimed abuse of state-owned media to which the parliamentary opposition was denied access throughout the campaign for the December 18 poll.