No reports of political violence say ULP, NDP

Director of the Institute of Governance and Politics of Latin America and the Caribbean Augustine Ferdinand, and Chairman of the New Democratic Party(NDP), Daniel Cummings, have both said they have not received any reports of political violence in this election season.

Their remarks were made at the signing of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Christian Council National Monitoring and Consultative Mechanism(NMCM) Code of Ethical Political Conduct on November 4, 2025 at the Methodist Church Hall, Kingstown.

Coordinator of NMCM Godfrey Samuel, had said there have been signs of violence on social media, but none had been directed to the politicians themselves.

However, Ferdinand said that some of the Unity Labour Party (ULP)’s billboards had been destroyed.

“There was an incident I know in Bequia where one of our billboards was burnt, the image, the design…one outside of Windsor, opposite Windsor, that one, part of it ripped.”

Ferdinand also said that the bottom of a billboard located in the vicinity of the Lowman’s cemetery had also been ripped.

“So those are what we are seeing evidently in the public, and there’s usual banter, but for the most part of it, most of our billboard properties in those three areas I know were defaced.”

He said the destruction of the billboards near the Windsor Primary School and in Bequia are currently under investigation.

Ferdinand said he does not know of any reports of actual physical violence connected to the ULP’s campaign.

Cummings for his part, said that apart from social media, the NDP has had no direct report of physical violence.

“I want to say though that personally, I am quite pleased that both parties are generally adhering to the principles of not defacing the country.”

He said too many elections have taken place where the streets are littered and walls resemble those of Harlem.

“Generally, we are using materials that, after the election, can be removed with no defacing of our beautiful country and that, for me, is a significant improvement,” Cummings said, adding that he thinks the NMCM has had an influence over elections.

He also said that utility companies such as the St Vincent Electricity Services Limited (Vinlec), have been in touch with the NDP asking that their paraphernalia does not cover pole numbers.

“And we are scrupulous in adherence to this because we understand the importance of not covering up the pole numbers so that Vinlec and others can have access to the information.”

Cummings said too that if they knew anything about the destruction of ULP billboards they would say.

“We have no idea what has caused it…I know that the government has cameras all over the country, so one would hope that they would be able to determine who these culprits are and prosecute them to the fullest extent.”

The West Kingstown NDP candidate added that defacing billboards is not something with which the NDP agrees subscribes to, or in any way condones.

“We want all candidates to have free access to the members of the public,” he stressed.

He also noted that the extent to which he has seen political violence online is when a woman claimed on social media that she sustained a wound somewhere on her forehead as a consequence of switching her political allegiance.

Samuel outlined that the NMCM has monitors who would be out before and during election day, November 27, 2025.

“The pre-election monitors…now that the code has been signed, will begin the process of monitoring the election meetings so they have guidelines as to what they ought to be looking at.”

These monitors are tasked with noting infractions of the articles of the Code of Conduct.

“When there are departures from the code, the monitors would report that,

and the way we deal with it would be

two ways. One is to speak to the party involved, and secondly to make public statements.”

The monitors began working this week and the chairperson of political meetings would be made aware of the presence of monitors.

A press release issued by the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force(RSVGPF) stated that reports have reached them regarding damage to campaign material in some areas.

“The RSVGPF is reminding persons that such behaviour undermines the democracy and may amount to an offence under the Criminal Code (Cap. 124).”

The police also said they have also observed rising political tension and is urging everyone to prevent disagreements from turning hostile.