Outside the Kingstown High Court on Thursday, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Godwin Friday shared a buoyant update with assembled journalists, stating his full legal team carries a deeply optimistic, upbeat outlook following the formal conclusion of closing arguments in two consolidated election petitions that directly challenge his parliamentary seat and that of Foreign Affairs Minister Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble. The two linked petitions were filed by defeated 2025 Unity Labour Party (ULP) general election candidates Augustus “Carlos” Williams and Luke Browne, who are seeking a court order to nullify the pair’s November 27, 2025 electoral victories: Friday’s win in the Northern Grenadines constituency, and Bramble’s victory in East Kingstown. The petitioners’ core legal argument rests on Section 26(1)(a) of the national Constitution, which they interpret to mean both elected officials were ineligible to stand for nomination and public office, as their voluntary acquisition of Canadian citizenship counts as formal acknowledgment of allegiance to a foreign sovereign state. In response, the defence has centered its entire case on Section 25 of the Constitution, the clause that lays out eligibility qualifications for Commonwealth citizens seeking public office. Friday, a veteran legal professional who has represented the Northern Grenadines constituency for 25 consecutive years, emphasized that the nation’s constitution drafters explicitly accounted for dual Commonwealth citizenship status when drafting the governing document. He noted his legal team had thoroughly substantiated this position through documented evidence and structured submissions during court proceedings, adding that while the opposing petitioners had presented their own set of arguments, those claims do not override longstanding established legal precedent. The prime minister went on to frame the legal battle as a broader defence of the national will expressed by voters, who handed his New Democratic Party (NDP) a decisive electoral victory that elevated him to the country’s top executive office. He stressed that his administration had already begun rolling out transformative policies to pull the nation out of decades of neglected infrastructure and underdevelopment left by previous governments, and noted he was eager to return to his official duties rather than spend extended days in court proceedings, even as he reaffirmed full respect for the High Court’s jurisdiction. Friday also contextualized the case within a broader national vision of harnessing the full potential of the Vincentian diaspora, noting that the constitutional interpretation his team is advocating for would allow skilled nationals who hold dual citizenship to contribute to national development, whether they reside locally or have lived and worked in Canada, Trinidad, or other global locations. As the nation recently marked its independence anniversary and the NDP administration approaches its first full year in power, Friday called on all Vincentians to unify, noting that his government has already delivered tangible progress including the award of 82 national scholarships and exhibitions, which were formally celebrated at an awards ceremony held Thursday evening. He framed the pending High Court ruling, which Justice Gertel Thom has confirmed will be delivered during the upcoming law term, as directly tied to the future of these young scholarship recipients: a favourable ruling would clear a path for this generation of skilled young people to pursue educational and professional opportunities abroad, then return home to serve their nation in public office without unnecessary legal barriers. Friday closed by reaffirming his administration’s unwavering commitment to fulfilling the full electoral mandate granted by voters, stating no pending legal proceedings would halt his government’s plans to advance national development for all Vincentians.
PM ‘upbeat and elated’ as dual citizenship submissions conclude
