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(E-063/01) March 16, 2001 OAS SENDING HISTORIC ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION TO ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES ELECTIONS The March 28 general elections in St. Vincent and the Grenadines will be monitored by the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS), the first time that international observers will monitor elections in that country. Ambassador Kingsley Layne, the Permanent Representative of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, signed an agreement today with OAS Secretary General César Gaviria, setting out the terms under which the approximately 15 election monitors will operate while in the country. "The Government is resolute in its commitment to elections that are free and fair, and free from fear, and with the full and unobstructed participation of the eligible citizenry," declared Ambassador Layne. He went on to state: "In its determination to preserve time-honored traditions of representative democracy, and fully cognizant of the unusual circumstances surrounding the election, the Government has, for the first time in the country's history, requested the participation of electoral observer missions from the international community." Thanking the OAS for its prompt response to the request for OAS observers, the Ambassador pledged that "the Government will honor all commitments embodied in the agreement signed here today." Secretary General Gaviria underscored the importance of free and fair elections to the consolidation of representative democracy, noting how pleased the OAS was pleased to send a mission to witness the process in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Steven Griner, Senior Specialist with the OAS' Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD), will be leading the mission. He arrives in St. Vincent and the Grenadines next Tuesday. The Ambassador presented the Secretary General as well with a copy of the publication "Compendium of Electoral Statistics/St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1951-1998," which details elections from 1951 when the country voted for the first time under universal adult suffrage.   **********