Grenada’s centre-left opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party won the general elections held in the Caribbean country on June 23. The NDC won 9 of the 15 seats in the House of Representatives. The centre-right New National Party (NNP) led by outgoing prime minister Keith Mitchell won the remaining 6 seats. With the resounding victory of the NDC, 44-year-old lawyer Dickon Mitchell was elected as the new prime minister of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
Following its victory, the NDC thanked the people for their support through social media: “This victory is not ours, but yours …Together, we are moving Grenada FORWARD!,”
Mitchell, who assumed the leadership of the NDC eight months ago, was sworn in for a five-year term on June 24. In his inauguration speech, he expressed his gratitude to the people for their overwhelming support and vowed to strengthen democracy and work together with the opposition for the benefit of the nation.
The NDC has pledged to improve health care, decrease unemployment and poverty, build affordable housing and boost education.
Grenada joined the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) in December 2014 under former PM Keith Mitchell’s administration. The country benefited from the regional integration mechanism in the fields of education and health. The ALBA-TCP member countries hope to strengthen regional cooperation with the new government.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel tweeted congratulations to Dickon Mitchell and affirmed the country’s “will to continue advancing in the development of friendly relations and cooperation between Grenada and Cuba, for the benefit of the people of both nations”.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro also sent congratulations “and the commitment to continue consolidating ties of brotherhood with the peoples of the Caribbean” via Twitter.
[Abridged from People’s Dispatch.]