Live
Audio Only
Vote counts are complete in Grenada and incumbent Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell's New National Party (NNP) will remain well in control of the 15-seat Parliament with the support of over 33,786 citizens of the island's 78,222 eligible voters.
The NNP's closest rival - National Democratic Congress (NDC) - won just under 23,000 votes and the remaining 8 parties hardly registering in the ballot boxes.
NNP victory means that Keith Mitchell will become the Caribbean's longest serving Prime Minister if he serves the entirety of this next five-year term. Mitchell already served as Grenada PM from 1995 to 2008 and 2013 to 2023 - a total of 23 years so far. He's expected to be sworn in by the end of the week.
The Jamaica Observer reports that many voters were complaining to local media that there were at least "two or three different types of (ballot) paper" at the 264 polling stations across the country.
The Parliamentary Electoral Office (POE) Civic and Education Officer, Ferdinand Phillip clarified that “from the office standpoint we want to refute that categorically. ... It is one quality of ballot paper that was made available to the general public and that is being used today."
The vote comes less than two months after Mitchell made the announcement or an election at a rally.
The polls opened at 6:00 a.m. and closed at 5:00 p.m.
Approximately 45 candidates – from the two major parties, seven minor parties as well as two independent entrants – are set to contest the election.
Incumbent Mitchell leads the NNP against main opposition leader Nazim Burke's NDC, both with 15 candidates each to compete for the parliament positions.
NNP had made a clean sweep of the seats in the February 2013 general election, in which 88 percent of the 62,148 registered voters – from among the Eastern Caribbean island's roughly 107,000 people – participated.
The other candidates who contested the election represented the Grenada Empowerment Movement (GEM), The Progressive Party (TPP), The Grenada Reconnaissance party (TGR), The Liberal Party (TLP), the Grenada Progressive Movement (GPM), the Grenada United Patriotic Movement (GUMP) and the Liberal Party (TLP) parties.
The Caricom Election Observer Mission (CEOM), led by Chief of Mission Pauline Welsh, will observe the election day process. Welsh also serves as the director of legal affairs, development and research at the Electoral Office of Jamaica.
The members of CEOM hail from The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Newsletter
