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The newly formed People’s Leadership Movement (PLM) has no electoral base and will fail to win a single House of Assembly seat, listeners to Honestly Speaking were told on October 13.
Political commentator Claude Skelton Cline accused the 'movement' of further splitting the National Democratic Party (NDP) vote, repeating the divisions that shaped the 2019 and 2023 elections.
“None of those candidates are gonna be elected to the House of Assembly. None! There’s no base,” he declared.
Skelton Cline claimed PLM leader Mark Vanterpool’s support was concentrated in Long Bush rather than across the Fourth District, and argued that the party lacked a base elsewhere in the Territory.
“Hon. Mark Vanterpool has a base up Long Bush. Not even the whole Fourth District, up Long Bush. If there’s any base, that’s where it is,” he said.
He listed East End and Long Look, central Tortola, Cane Garden Bay, Meyers, Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda as areas where he believed the PLM had no established support.
“You’re splitting the NDP votes all over again,” he charged, tracing the fragmentation back to 2018 and 2019.
Grouping the NDP, Progressive Virgin Islands Movement (PVIM) and PLM together, Skelton Cline dismissed the political reshuffling as the same figures repeating the same approach.
“NDP, PVIM, PLM. Same old cats, same old guys doing the same stupid stuff,” he said.
He argued that the continued divisions would benefit the governing Virgin Islands Party (VIP).
“The more and more I see this unfolding, the more and more I see the VIP expanded,” he stated.
Vanterpool has recently said people are lining up to join the PLM and expressed confidence that the party will be successful at the 2027 polls.
Skelton Cline’s latest criticism follows his October 6 disclosure that he had previously told Vanterpool he would not support him for Premier. He said his objection was based on the principle that the premiership should be reserved for a Virgin Islander with ancestral ties through either parent, rather than a concern about Vanterpool’s competence,
Political commentator Claude Skelton Cline accused the 'movement' of further splitting the National Democratic Party (NDP) vote, repeating the divisions that shaped the 2019 and 2023 elections.
“None of those candidates are gonna be elected to the House of Assembly. None! There’s no base,” he declared.
Skelton Cline claimed PLM leader Mark Vanterpool’s support was concentrated in Long Bush rather than across the Fourth District, and argued that the party lacked a base elsewhere in the Territory.
“Hon. Mark Vanterpool has a base up Long Bush. Not even the whole Fourth District, up Long Bush. If there’s any base, that’s where it is,” he said.
He listed East End and Long Look, central Tortola, Cane Garden Bay, Meyers, Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda as areas where he believed the PLM had no established support.
“You’re splitting the NDP votes all over again,” he charged, tracing the fragmentation back to 2018 and 2019.
Grouping the NDP, Progressive Virgin Islands Movement (PVIM) and PLM together, Skelton Cline dismissed the political reshuffling as the same figures repeating the same approach.
“NDP, PVIM, PLM. Same old cats, same old guys doing the same stupid stuff,” he said.
He argued that the continued divisions would benefit the governing Virgin Islands Party (VIP).
“The more and more I see this unfolding, the more and more I see the VIP expanded,” he stated.
Vanterpool has recently said people are lining up to join the PLM and expressed confidence that the party will be successful at the 2027 polls.
Skelton Cline’s latest criticism follows his October 6 disclosure that he had previously told Vanterpool he would not support him for Premier. He said his objection was based on the principle that the premiership should be reserved for a Virgin Islander with ancestral ties through either parent, rather than a concern about Vanterpool’s competence,
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