Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Ralph Everard Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Date of Birth: 8 August 1946

Marital Status: Married

Education:

• 1966-69:   B.Sc. Economics, UWI
• 1969-71:   M.Sc. Government, UWI
• 1971-74:   Ph.D. Government, Victoria Univ. of Manchester, England
• 1981: Degree of Utter Barrister, Gray’s Inn, London, England
  

Professional/Political Career:

• 1974-76:   Lecturer, Dept. of Government, UWI
• 1980: Visiting Professor, Queen’s College, City University of New York
• 1981-2001: Barrister-at-Law and Solicitor, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
• 1994: Member of Parliament
• 1998-present: Leader, Unity Labour Party
• 1999-2002: Leader, Opposition Party in Parliament
• 2001:  Prime Minister
• 2005: Re-elected Prime Minister

Ralph Everad Gonsalves was born on August 08, 1946 to Alban Gonsalves and Theresa Francis in Colonarie, a rural village in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He is married to Eloise Gonsalves nee Harris and has three sons (Camillo, Adam and Storm), and two daughters (Isis and Soleil).

Dr. Gonsalves was educated in St. Vincent and the Grenadines at the Colonarie Roman Catholic School and at the St. Vincent Boys’ Grammar School. He later completed a Bachelors Degree in Economics at the University of the West Indies, there obtaining several noteworthy accolades including, President of the Debating Society and President of the Guild of Undergraduates. In 1971 he obtained a Masters in Government from the University of the West Indies. In 1974 and 1981 he obtained a Ph.D in Government and a Degree of Utter Barrister at University of Manchester, England and Gray’s Inn, London, respectively.

Dr. Gonsalves became the Deputy Political Leader of the Unity Labour Party (ULP) in 1994. The ULP, a merger of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Labour Party and the Movement for National Unity (MNU), with Dr. Gonsalves as leader, won the General Elections held on March 28, 2000. He has remained Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines since then, winning the elections again in December 2005.

Concurrently while pursuing his political career and prior to his becoming the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Mr. Gonsalves practiced law extensively and successfully before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in a wide range of matters, but particularly in the fields of constitutional law, criminal law, administrative law, matrimonial law, real property law, law of tort generally and the law of contract.

Dr. Gonsalves has researched, written and published extensively on a range of matters touching upon the Caribbean, African, trade unionism, comparative political economy, and developmental issues generally. Among his publications are: “History and the Future: A Caribbean Perspective” (Quik Print, St. Vincent, 1994) and “The Politics of Our Caribbean Civilisation – Essays and Speeches” (Great Works Depot, St. Vincent, 2001). His two latest publications “The Areas of a Prime Minister” and “The Making of the Comrade.