RALPH Gonsalves bid for an unprecedented sixth-consecutive five-year term in office ended on Thursday, after his ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) lost the general election in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

A report posted by the St Vincent Times Thursday night said the New Democratic Party (NDP), led by Dr Goodwin Friday, secured at least 11 of the country’s 15 parliamentary seats.

Gonsalves, 79, has served as prime minister of the multi-island Caribbean nation since 2001 and was one of the longest-serving democratically elected leaders in the world.

His loss will make Dr Friday the island’s seventh prime minister since political Independence in 1979.

The election was Dr Friday’s second bid for power, after unsuccessfully running against Gonsalves in 2020.

The NDP has proposed introducing a citizenship-by-investment programme to generate revenue for the nation, and severing relations with Taiwan — which St Vincent has held since 1981 — in favour of greater proximity with mainland China. Gonsalves and the ULP have long opposed those issues.

According to the St Vincent Times, national attention will now focus on Dr Friday’s proposed policy initiatives and potential strategies for addressing the island’s economic and social challenges.

In the last election the ULP won nine of the 15 seats but the NDP won the popular vote.

FRIDAY… will become St Vincent and the Grenadines’s sixth prime minister