Weekly Report - 19 November 2009 (WR-09-46)

The wave of constitutional reform sweeping across Latin America in recent years has reached the Caribbean. Thirty years after its independence St Vincent and the Grenadines will hold a referendum on constitutional reform on 25 November. Requiring a two-thirds majority, the referendum is the first of its kind to be held in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (Oecs), the sub-regional group within the 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom). If it is approved, St Vincent and the Grenadines would become a republic with an elected president as head of state rather than the British monarch. The Privy Council would also be replaced by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the country's final appellate institution. The big question is whether other Caricom states will follow suit.

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