KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) — Former Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, whose Unity Labour Party (ULP) was defeated in last Thursday’s general election after 25 years in office, says the party is very much alive and he will return to Parliament as leader of the Opposition.

Gonsalves conceded defeat in an address on Saturday, but offered no specific congratulations to the new Prime Minister Godwin Friday, or the New Democratic Party (NDP), which won 14 of the 15 seats in the unicameral Parliament.

He spoke in ominous terms about the new NDP Administration, even as only the prime minister has been sworn in, with the Cabinet expected to be sworn in this week.

“Believe me this: At this very height of the NDP is triumphalism, it is the moment of the start of their descent. And descend they will.

“The unravelling usually commences imperceptibly, and then becomes a flood of disarray as the centre cannot hold and things fall apart. History and experience so teach and, in our fast-changing world, the clock of their demise is already ticking,” Gonsalves said.

“I shall, with dignity, duty, and love, assume the role of leader of the Opposition until propitious circumstances determined otherwise,” said Gonsalves, who was Opposition leader from 1998 to 2001.

“I have trod this road before. It is not unfamiliar to me. Please be assured that the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid; it is my lot to accept, indeed [I] prefer a strenuous life to one of ignoble ease.

“There remain in me no personal vanities or demons to overcome. I accept, after prayerful consideration, that I have been set apart and blessed for a time like this,” he continued.

He said he will convene a meeting of the collective leadership of the ULP on Sunday to receive advice on the two individuals to be appointed as senators.

“Clearly, given the lopsided majority of the new regime in the Parliament, we in the Opposition will be routinely out-voted, but the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines will judge us on the basis of the quality of our work, which I assure you will be of the highest standard and, across our country, outside of Parliament, by our works, you will know us even better and more assuredly,” Gonsalves said.

“Labour is very much alive. We shall rendezvous with the electorate formally again in 2030 or before, as the circumstances demand or admit,” the former prime minister said.

He said the line of march provided by the leadership of the NDP is to, first, to help supporters understand “that our political setback is temporary and must be altered into a permanent advance.

“Thus, let us turn this setback into an advance,” Gonsalves said, adding that there must also be renewal.

“Renewal, rebuilding is sweet. Indeed, it is the sweetest of life’s experiences. And within and outside the Labour family, there is abundant material, some even hidden or submerged, which is available for renewal,” he continued.

Gonsalves echoed poetry stating that in renewing, “We must listen to our parents and grandparents, but also to our daughters and our sons.

“The ultimate purpose of this renewal is to make a whole daughter and a whole son and broken, not necessarily perfect, ones out of the compromises and contradictions that our history and circumstances have made us.”

The third element was that the party must “defend resolutely our gains and advance them further”.

The former prime minister also said Labourites must “resist also resolutely in every material particular, any attempt by the new regime to sell out St Vincent and the Grenadines or its patrimony.

“Everyone knows what I’m talking about. There is thus a clear roadmap for us on the way forward. Details will emerge,” he said.

During the election campaign, the ULP has presented some NDP proposals, including the introduction of a citizenship by investment programme, as plans to sell out the country.

The former prime minister congratulated the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines, including electoral personnel and State institutions, for their continued commitment to popular democracy.

“We in the Unity Labour Party are not among those who always insist that democracy only works when we win, and cry foul when we lose,” he said, adding that the party will always accept the will of the people, whether it wins or loses.

“Indeed, our great party has contributed immensely to the building of the democratic institutions that underpin our electoral democracy,” he said.

Gonsalves was the only ULP candidate to win a seat in the election, with the casualties including his son and East St George incumbent Camillo Gonsalves, who had been finance minister since 2017.

Another prominent member who was rejected by the electorate was Saboto Caesar, who was seeking a fourth term as Member of Parliament for South Central Windward.

Caesar and the younger Gonsalves had been identified as future leaders of the party, but the former finance minister, in his concession speech, said that the party would have to select a new candidate for East St George.

Meanwhile, the former prime minister was returned for an eighth successive time for North Central Windward, a seat he has held since February 1994 — 31 years ago.

“I belong to my constituents. We belong to each other. Their trust and confidence in me have endured through all the changing scenes of life and living. The anchor holds. Their God is my God and, wherever we go, we know that we go together with God’s grace in profound solidarity and love,” the former head of government said.

He also thanked the ULP’s “great team of candidates” as well as the party’s activists, organisers, and supporters for their “heroic efforts” in the campaign.

“Some of these defeated candidates will no doubt return to the electorate again, but others are unlikely to. Time and circumstances will so determine,” Gonsalves said.

“Even at this difficult time for my country, my party, and me, I yet again reaffirm from the depths of my unconquerable soul and the determined spirit of my being, my deep and enduring love for my constituents and all the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“It is a love that is an ever-fixed mark that looks and tempests and is never shaken. It is a love that brings immense joy, but also occasions pain. The weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Hallelujah for the joy.

“I assure each and every one of you that in the fell clutch of the circumstance of my party’s defeat. I have not winced nor cried aloud under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloodied, but unbowed,” he said.

Gonsalves said faith, history and circumstance have conspired to accord him another role after the near-25 years as prime minister.

He said that he cannot and would not proceed alone.

New Prime Minister Godwin Friday was sworn in a day after the election.