Grenada Holds Legislative Elections

On Thursday, the citizens of Granada are called to cast their vote in a general election, in which Keith Mitchell and Dickon Mitchell face off as the main candidates to lead the government.

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The polls opened at 6:00 a.m. and will close at 5:00 p.m. local time. Over 87,700 people are registered to vote. On Monday, 914 officers of the Royal Granada Police had the opportunity to cast their vote before the population.

Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, who is the candidate of the New National Party (NNP), hopes to be re-elected for his sixth term. He is also seeking a third consecutive electoral victory after having won all 15 constituencies in the 2013 and 2018 general elections.

Dickon Mitchell, a 44-year-old lawyer who leads the National Democratic Congress (NDC), hopes to get more votes than the NNP candidate and become Grenada's next prime minister.

Although one independent candidate and 41 candidates sponsored by five political parties are also participating in the elections, the NNP and the NDC are the political forces most likely to come to power. Both parties have fielded candidates for all 15 seats in parliament.

In 2018, the NNP won an outright victory, receiving 33,792 votes, while the NDC obtained 23,249. A team of electoral observers from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is monitoring the electoral process in Grenada.

While this Caribbean island became independent from the United Kingdom in 1974, its head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who is represented by a Governor General. On May 16, PM Mitchell asked Governor General Cecile La Grenade to dissolve Parliament. His request gave rise to the elections being held today.