The poll is a one-on-one fight between the governing Unity Labour Party (ULP) of Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and the main opposition New Development Party (NDP), led by former PM Arnhim Eustace. The small Green Party is also in the race but most analysts say it is a two-way affair.
The election is being held four months early. Gonsalves is confident that his party will score a third successive victory. His campaign was focused on the message that people are better off under his stewardship since he first took office in 2001.
"We are offering, in addition to continuity, change to take our nation to the next, higher level of development,” he has said.
The opposition NDP is also confident, counting on its success in the national referendum last year when voters rejected the government's plans for a new constitution. It is ready to take back the government from Gonsalves' “social-democratic” administration, which it says has ruined the economy and caused the private sector to shrink.
The party is also concerned that the Gonsalves government has been too close to left wing countries such as Venezuela, Libya, and Iran.
The NDP has pledged to leave the Venezuela-led Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) that Caracas is promoting as the alternative to the US-led Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
The NDP contends that the country has not really benefited from Gonsalves close association with his ALBA friends.
"First of all, the economy is in a total mess...and we had a referendum just a year ago (when) we reversed entirely the number of votes we got,” the NDP leader told media.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been hard hit by the global economic slowdown. Recent figures show that following an average growth of nearly eight per cent in 2006-07, economic activity contracted by 0.6 per cent in 2008 and one per cent last year, reflecting slowdowns in tourism and foreign direct investment.
Eustace has told supporters that his party has already secured 10 projects that will result in at least 20,000 new jobs on the island over the next two years.
The two main parties have been drawing large crowds to their respective rallies and are hoping that this will translate to victory at the polls. The governing party held 12 of the 15 seats in the last parliament with the NDP holding the other three.
The NDP is hoping to reverse that. Election officials say 101,053 persons are eligible to cast ballots in the election and are expecting a high turnout.
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