Topic analysis

St Vincent and Grenadines government pauses constitutional amendment bills after public backlash

The St Vincent and the Grenadines government has paused two controversial constitutional amendment bills following public backlash, including protests near parliament. The bills sought to retroactively redefine "foreign power" in the 1979 constitution to exclude Commonwealth nations, allowing dual citizens like Prime Minister Godwin Friday and MP Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble (who hold Canadian and Vincentian citizenship) to hold office—this comes amid ongoing election petitions challenging their eligibility, set for a July hearing in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, with critics questioning the timing’s impact on judicial independence and government officials defending the amendments as clarifying ambiguous language to safeguard voters’ democratic choices.