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Trials and Tribulations in the Eastern Caribbean

The countries of the Eastern Caribbean are often forgotten when political and economic developments in the Commonwealth Caribbean are considered. Usually countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are featured at the expense of the smaller island-nations in the region. This is unfortunate as these countries—some of the most vulnerable and indebted in the world—are still struggling to overcome the impacts of the global financial crisis, while also wrestling with political ossification and voter disengagement in some instances. This piece considers the key developments and challenges that the countries of the Eastern Caribbean have faced over the last 12 months. Two general elections were held in February 2013 with quite contrasting outcomes. On 19 February Grenada went to the polls and the outcome was an overwhelming victory for the opposition New National Party (NNP)—winning all 15 seats and 59% of the vote. The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) was left shell-shocked, but only had itself to blame owing to deep internal divisions that led to several government ministers being expelled from the party. The voters were angry as the NDC’s internal problems were distracting it from the urgent need to deal with high unemployment of over 30%, anaemic growth, and unsustainable levels of debt. Since re-entering office the NNP has focused its attention on the economy and has begun to restructure Grenada’s debt. However, there are some broader concerns over the party’s dominance of parliament and some commentators have noted what happened when the party (led by current Prime Minister Keith Mitchell) had a similarly strong position after the 1999 election—the government was accused of arrogance, authoritarianism and corruption. These concerns were reinforced in September when the new administration passed the Electronic Crimes Act. The legislation was criticised strongly by the International Press Institute and Reporters without Borders for restricting freedom of speech. On 21 February Barbados went to the polls and saw an unexpected, albeit very narrow, victory for the incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP). Prior to the election opinion polls pointed to a clear Barbados Labour Party (BLP) win, but several factors played a role in awarding the DLP another term in office. These included: the natural