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More than 103,000 vot­ers are go­ing to the 250 polling sta­tions here on Thurs­day to elect a new gov­ern­ment in St. Vin­cent and the Grenadines, in an elec­tion that po­lit­i­cal ob­servers say could sig­nal the end of the po­lit­i­cal ca­reer of Prime Min­is­ter Dr. Ralph Gon­salves.

Gon­salves, 79, the longest serv­ing head of gov­ern­ment in the Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (CARI­COM), is lead­ing his rul­ing Uni­ty Labour Par­ty (ULP) in­to the elec­tion, hop­ing for a sixth con­sec­u­tive vic­to­ry, but he faces an up­hill task as the main op­po­si­tion New De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty (NDP) seeks to end their 25 years in the po­lit­i­cal wilder­ness un­der the 66-year-old at­tor­ney Dr. God­win Fri­day.

Both the ULP and the NDP are field­ing can­di­dates in all 15 con­stituen­cies.