Grenada's leader began campaigning with a burst of fireworks and a confident pledge that his party will again sweep legislative elections this year.

Prime Minister Keith Mitchell promised some 3,000 supporters at a rally Sunday (March 16) that voting scheduled by June 2004 will be held this year. But the 56-year-old leader did not give a date.

"We have no seat to give up and so we will again win all 15 seats," Mitchell told the crowd in the Caribbean island's northern parish of St. Patrick. His New National Party won all 15 Parliament seats in 1999.

One legislator, former Agriculture Minister Michael Baptiste, broke ranks to join the opposition Grenada United Labor Party in 2000 after he was removed from Cabinet as part of a rotation.

Yolande Joseph, an appointed senator, will go up against Baptiste in the next vote, Mitchell said.

He claimed party support remains solid, saying Grenada has become the strongest economy in the eastern Caribbean. However, the island of 100,000 remains among the Caribbean's poorer nations, and unemployment remains at about 12 percent.

Mitchell cited his government's removal of personal income tax as one factor aiding the economy. The country's gross domestic product grew 0.6 percent last year after contracting 3.4 percent in 2001.

International pressure has forced Grenada to close about 40 offshore banks, but last month the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force removed it from a blacklist of nations deemed uncooperative in fighting money laundering.

Meanwhile, the government is spending Eastern Caribbean $215 million (US$80 million) building a new port to accommodate the latest generation of giant cruise ships in the capital, St. George's. Construction is to finish next month.

"You can see by just looking around that Grenada is making progress," party supporter Sherron Roberts said at Sunday's rally. "There is no credible opposition as far as I see."

Opposition parties include the United Labor Party and the National Democratic Congress.

Mitchell announced that legislators Mark Isaac, 49, and Oliver Archibald, 61, will not seek re-election.

Former teacher Ann Antoine is to run in Isaac's place while civil servant Roland Bhola will run in Archibald's place.

The newspaper Grenada Today reported in January that an internal poll by Mitchell's party projected it could win only three seats. Mitchell denied that.

Instead, he told the rally, the poll commissioned by his party suggests it commands stronger support than five years ago. The poll's findings were not released.


PROVIDED BY CARIBUPDATE.COM