One hundred years of elective representation 1924-2024

As we move to the end of another election cycle our people need to be reminded of how hard our ancestors had to fight for the right to vote, so voting and elections generally have to be taken seriously and safeguarded.

Elections should not be treated like games, and our right to vote must be held in high esteem. It is not for sale. It must be considered our power! The system which we now know as the Westminster System was introduced after the British took control of St. Vincent in 1763. The system then was what was referred to as the Old Representative System with the Governor representing the Crown and the Council and House of Assembly being considered replicas of the Houses of Commons and Lords in Britain.

With the arrival of the British came the establishment of a state of slavery. The slaves were considered property. The right to vote and be a member of the Assembly was limited to those who owned a certain acreage of land and earned income of a particular value. The system experienced problems over the years, since most of the planters who qualified to be members of the Assembly were absentees. With the ending of slavery and the acquisition of land by former slaves, the planters felt threatened for they anticipated the time when coloureds and blacks would control the Assembly. This was the pattern, not only in SVG but in some of the other islands. The Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica in 1865 gave them the opportunity to end the elective system and introduce a system of Crown Colony government with no elective representation and the Governor running the country with a nominated Council in the interests of the British Government.

St. Vincent got its period of Crown Colony government starting in 1877. The period of the 1880s and 1890s was one of economic depression and discontent. A significant number of Blacks and Coloureds had acquired income and land to allow them access to the Legislative Council. The dissatisfaction with Crown Colony government took organisational form with the birth of a St. Vincent Representative Government Association in 1919. This organisation led the struggle as did similar organisations in some of the other colonies. With an increasing number of petitions from other colonies, the British Government sent out a Commission referred to as the Wood Commission because it was headed by the Under-Secretary of State, E F L Wood. Based on its meetings held in the different colonies it was able to recommend the introduction of elected representation. A New Constitution based on the Commission’s recommendation was introduced through an Order – Council and was proclaimed on December 1, 1924. The first elections under the new constitution were held on March 4, 1925. It allowed for three elected members. The elections were uncontested with two who had served under the Crown Colony system being returned as elected members. The one new person was from the Windward district. He was Joseph Milton Gray from Georgetown; a merchant and landed proprietor with interests in two estates. Of a population of 48,182 only 661 persons were registered in the three electoral divisions. In the last set of elections before the introduction of Crown Colony government in 1877, of a population of 36,000 the number of persons registered was 368. To qualify to be registered you had to be a man 21 years old, or a woman 30 years old. The individual had to have a net income of £ 30 per annum; to be the owner of real property with a value of at least £ 150 “above all charges and encumbrances or paying rent for real property of at least £12 per annum.

There were others who had achieved the voting qualifications but never bothered to register. Between 1925 and 1935 six elected members served in uncontested elections. In 1932 and 1933, the Dominica Conference and Closer Union Commission respectively had recommended wider political representation. Changes in the political climate made this possible. The Riots of October 1935 eventually led to the formation of McIntosh’s St. Vincent Workingmen’s Cooperative Association (SWMA) on March 2, 1936.

The Legislative Council was dissolved on 16th December 1936, to prepare for a new Council with changes having been made. Among them, women over 21 rather than 30 now qualified to be registered. The SWMA which had decided to enter the political arena came up against a Planters Group. Election Day was March 25, 1937. The number of registered voters had climbed to 1598 with the Kingstown district having 665 and the Grenadines 118. The franchise was still restricted. But even those not qualified to vote gave strong support to McIntosh and the SWMA. The Investigator Newspaper reported on the interest and enthusiasm which “were strong and sustained up to the time of the declaration of the results.” Of the 5 constituencies the SWMMA won 4 with the Planters candidate in the Grenadines D C McIntosh, winning by 4 votes. What was of interest here was the involvement of the working people who, under the existing franchise, were not qualified to vote. McIntosh’s SWMA dominated the Legislature from then until 1951 when Charles and Joshua’s ‘Eight Army of Liberation’ (so called) took control in the first set of elections under Adult Suffrage. (To be continued)

•  Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian