ST. GEORGE ‘S, Grenada: When Grenada’s politicians sign up on Wednesday to contest the November 27th general elections, there is expected to be the good, the bad – and the jokers.

Close to a hundred candidates from six parties – and parties are being used loosely here – are likely to sign up.

There will be a candidate for ever 8,000 registered voters, one of the highest in the region, but most won’t even qualify to run your high school soccer team if there was a qualifying criteria.

If the real truth be told there will be three “parties” contesting the poll – the incumbent New National Party and the National Democratic Congress – because only they are in with a chance of winning – and the Grenada United Labor Party, because they will affect who wins.

The People’s Labour Movement of Dr Francis Alexis, might be a party – barely so – but they are not seriously expected to feature in the results.

Alexis won his seat twice in the 1980s as a senior member of major parties – and the interest in his St George’s South East contest against incumbent Gregory Bowen is to find out if he remains even a relevant political force.

For the records, the reports will state that there are other parties called – Gold Ole Democracy of the enigma Justin Crowe McBurnie and the Grenada Renaissance Party.

These “parties” hold no meetings; have no executive nor any identifiable members. In some cases, the candidates only give their consent to have their names on the list – all expenses paid – and that is where their involvement starts and ends.

Most won’t get more than half a dozen votes.

Calistra Ferrier, is a journalist colleague of mine. She is running for GOD in St Mark’s. But she has been busy reporting on the campaign of other people for Grenadian Voice newspaper rather than doing any campaign her own. On Election Day, I hope to have her filing pieces for us, not monitoring her political machinery.

She already has an idea how many votes she will get – three or four. Her mother is not included. I suspect her boyfriend is also doubtful.

The GOD candidate in the Town of St George made his name as a calypsonian – and is a card bearing member of one of the major parties.

The debate is on whether he will vote for himself.

His “wish list” manifesto for the area sounds like the text of an episode from Comedy Central.

Then there are the serious – or for the cynical, the least hilarious.

Both NNP and NDC are expected to file a full slate, but it’s doubtful whether GULP will. Carriacou seemed not to be on the cards for the party of the late Sir Eric Gairy, which even struggle there in the days when he was king.

The party is at the 11th hour still trying to consolidate its final list – and you can never know until the papers are in.

Two months ago Michael Andrew was supposed to have contested St David’s for the GULP. But that was thrown into chaos when he was thrown out because of some unauthorized meeting with Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell.

GULP is still in a relative state of disorganization – though getting better – and you never know the score with it until it’s in.

In a political campaign that has failed to yet take a decisive form, most things remain both uncertain and fluid.

The only certainties are that the incumbent will not win all the seats again, and that out of 15, there are only two that can be called with certainty – that of Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell in St George’s North West and that of his deputy Gregory Bowen in St George’s South East.

A few others are close to that – but in an election where there are too many voters who don’t believe in anything – anything can happen.

Campaign money before, and the weather during, can be as important to the results as have been the issues. The more cynical might even say, more important.

The nominations are coming at a time when the opposition parties are still expressing reservations about the final electoral list, complaining that it has been largely padded, leaving room for the unthinkable.

However a boycott of the polls, through briefly talked about here last week, does not appear to be on the cards.

The parties are reported to be considering putting a system in place where field workers can closely monitor whether people from considered safe areas for the incumbent are showing up in more marginal areas to vote. They are also set to monitor whether hundreds of Grenadians living abroad are being sponsored to return to vote.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell has already invited the Organization of American States to send an observer team to witness the poll.

Among the major contests expected in the November 27th general election is the toss up in St Andrew’s South West, where opposition leader Michael Baptiste, who won his seat as an NNP member in 1999, is coming up against Senator Yolande Joseph and NDC’s Osbert Charles.

Baptiste has waged a bruising battle against Joseph, and has seemed to have received a bounce following his arrest two months ago on fraud charges.

In an unprecedented three-woman race in St George’s south – one of them is expected to enter the House of Representatives for the first time.

NNP incumbent Mark Isaac, a two-time winner, is not contesting the seat again. His party has replaced him with Ann David, but she faces a tough challenge from NDC’s Glenys Roberts and the new GULP leader Gloria Payne-Banfield.

The GULP, which is considered only in with a chance in St Andrew’s South West, however could have a significant part to play in the results in St John’s that essentially pits Agriculture Minister Claris Charles against the former Chief Technical Officer in her Department.

Michael Church was sent home by the government over a year ago and is now the candidate for the NDC in the area.

Herbert Preudhomme, a one-time deputy to former Prime Minister Sir Eric Gairy is rumored to be the likely GULP candidate, which will add some spice to the mix.

Charles just edged out Grace Duncan, who in 1999 ran for the GULP, in one of the closest contests of the last election. Duncan is no longer in frontline politics and even though she has a nominal position with the government, she has refused to publicly campaign for Charles.

GULP might also be significant factors in St Marks, where NNP’s Clarice Modeste Curwen is the nominal favorite in a closing race against NDC’s Osbert Charles, and in the rural areas of the Town of St George constituency where NDC’s Peter David has considered front-runner status against Tourism Minister Brenda Hood.

Other interesting contests are expected in the two St Patrick’s seats and Carriacou.

Minister of Finance Anthony Boastwain, one of the more likeable politicians, faces a tough re-election test against NDC newcomer Joseph Gilbert. NDC’s leader Tillman Thomas and Sports Minister Adrian Mitchell are the two major contenders in St Patrick’s East in what is expected to be one of the bruising battles.


SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM