Unity Labor Party wins St. Vincent and Grenadines parliamentary elections

The Unity Labor Party (ULP) led by incumbent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has won the fourth consecutive parliamentary elections in St. Vincent and Grenadines, according to news reports reaching here from Kingstown on Thursday.

According to figures released by the electoral office, garnering eight seats in the country's 15-member House of Assembly, the ULP maintained slim advantage over its old rival New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Arnhim Eustace, which has taken the remaining seven. This result is the same as that of the last elections in 2010.

However, the NDP refused to concede the defeat, insisting its victory in the constituency of Central Leeward, which according to figures released by the electoral office, was taken by the ULP.

"We of the New Democratic Party are confident that we have won the general elections based on figures received by our various polling agents," the NDP said in a statement.

"Our figures show that we won the Central Leeward seat by six votes, which means that we won the general elections by eight seats to seven," it added.

The ULP also expressed its discontent over the count of votes in a couple of constituencies taken by the NDP.

"We are looking into various issues in North Leeward and South Leeward and we are also calling for an immediate recount to ensure that all the votes are counted in those constituencies," said Gonsalves.

"There are more rejected ballots than the margin and those ballots should be examined closely to determine the intent of the voters," he added.

Meanwhile, the incumbent prime minister, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term, called on his supporters to calm down and look forward.

The elections were held on Wednesday. Two smaller parties -- the SVG Green Party and the Democratic Republican Party (DRP) -- also participated in the contest, but neither of them got any seat. Endi