[...] For the original report go to http://www.antillean.org/2009/11/25/constitutional-reform-referendum-defeated-in-st-vincent-the-gren... [...]

God save The Queen! A ceremonial figurehead “from England” is better than a puppet despot from home.

Well said, Francis K! Vincey people don’t need a Chavez! The Queen any day!

Great result! And I fully agree with Francis’ and John’s comment.

God save the Queen of St. Vincent & the Grenadines!!

You guys are joking, what is the British Monarchy doing for our Nation. The issue is not about having a ceremonial head or a president but the way the constitution reform was presented to the people.

Guys, the people have spoken! Full stop! The Vincentian people are not foolish, they saw no need to chang at this time and so it was. The voice of the people is the voice of God…….let it be. Untill we can have leaders who will be straight with us, who will tell us in clear distinct terms what are the benefits to us as a people, then i say the people have done well!

Long live the Queen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines! The People of SVG have decided!

can the nation have its’ $4m (referendum education $$) back now please ralph?……or why don’t you resign and we’ll call it square (a small price to pay to get rid of a power hungry monster)

This echoes the feelings of people all over the Caribbean.
No longer are we the illiterates we were at Independance.
The Politicians greed,tribalism and arrogance have let us down.
Leave the Crown right there!!
In fact give the Crown MORE power to deal with politicians who sell our lands (Let the Crown decide how CROWN LANDS are treated) and abuse their power,
The CCJ costs the Government money and the Privy Council doesn’t.
Why should my taxes pay for the CCJ Judges to drive 5 series BMWs just so the Government can politically interfere with decisions!

God bless freedom of speach, the Queen and this nation. We need no dictatorship here thats why 55% of us voted no.

The generation from Ralph’s Education revolution will be more educated and thus will not be fooled by the opposition NDP who has managed to duped the illiterate 55% who voted no. so any future ref for change shouldn’t be a problem. The NDP has simply reaped the benefit of keeping the masses ignorant for so long. A previous comment said that “No longer are we the illiterates we were at Independance” well i beg to differ as you can see from the result we obviously still are. Garnet Jessop who also commented above i believe is not on this planet.

I just want to congratulate our OECS cousins to the south for rejecting the path to dictatorship. This has been a huge blow to Ralph and Chavez so down with ALBA and long live the OECS . May God Bless our Queen, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the OECS family, we were very worried.

what you mean the queen is not doing anything for the county F.Jack, dont forget about our brothers and sisters in the british force in the uk,stop being so dum and see what Ralph wanted to do to us the nation has spoken NO Ralph need to get a life and resign give up Mr Primeminister

Long live the Queen

I’m sure if the PM had asked us to vote on ALBA we would have given him the same result.

We will revenge in spite of all! LONG LIVE REPUBLIC!!!

Just because the referendum failed doesn’t mean the people don’t want reform. Perhaps we just want reform that is meaningful to us. Perhaps we want a reformation process that has not been hijacked by the political parties for their own ends. Voting no is a rejection of the document as it exists, not of what it could be.

Good referendum … Long live Democracy !!!!

May I take this opportunity to congratulate all Vincentians for their wise choice.

Despite all the bribery and – well, why not say it openly – all the threats, Vincentians have voted with reason and with the future for their children in heart.

They have refused any notion of Chaves-like dictatorship and have overwhelmingly voted for democracy. The story is not over, however, and there is no place for resilience, or else the PM will try to snap another chance before you know it.

For now at least, however, it is time for joy and celebration.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

[...] does not also explain that, the day before the Commonwealth summit began in Trinidad, a national referendum on constitutional reform in neighbouring St. Vincent & The Grenadines was defeated, with 43.13% (22,493) of voters opting for a new charter and 55.64% (29,019) voting against. Among [...]

I wander if u all vote on party lines?

Congratulations, Vincies, the old saying ” if it aint broke, don’t fix it” applies. You know what you have now, you don’t know what you’re going to get once this proposed constititution had gone into effect. It’s not good to have too much power in the hands of one man; you have seen what this does in governments all over the world, power corrupts and before you know it you have a dictator on your hands and there is nothing you can do because you voted to change the laws and put him there.