Thousands of supporters to attend political rallies on Sunday

 By Linda Straker

IT’S an election year and supporters of the two main political parties are expected to turn out in their thousands to political meetings on Sunday as more and more evidence is indicating that the election date will soon be announced.

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), whose leader is Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, will be holding its first gathering for 2013 in the north of the island at the Sauteurs Bus Terminal in St. Patrick, while the New National Party (NNP) will be at Belle Vue, St. David – southeast of the island.

Leader of the NDC, Prime Minister Tillman Thomas.

“We will be presenting candidates for all 15 constituencies,” General Secretary for the NDC, Bernard Isaac, promised.

He said that the constituencies without candidates or caretakers will be endorsing the relevant persons during the week and on Sunday, the party will be presenting the full slate that will be contesting the constituencies to represent them in the House of Representatives or Lower House of Parliament.

The New National Party, whose leader is former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, which has been boasting for a while of having candidates to contest all constituencies, will be presenting Oliver Joseph – the new candidate for St. David, following the resignation of Gabriel Henry after he was charged with assaulting his female companion.

Leader of the NNP, Dr. Keith Mitchell.

“I will be making my inaugural speech at the St. David meeting,” Joseph said. “I am prepared to take on the challenge as I prepare myself to serve the Grenadian people at another level after having served as a public officer and retiring from the service,” he said.

Political observers believe that the NDC and Thomas will not only set the platform for his party’s election campaign at Sunday’s meeting, but he will also announce the election date. Most are basing that on the fact that there has not been a parliamentary session of neither the Lower or Upper House of Parliament since July 2012 and continuing in this position beyond January can be a violation of the constitution.

“We are aware of what the Constitution request and we are weighing our options,” Minister for Information, Glen Noel, told MTV news.

Another fact is the request from the Conference of Churches of Grenada (CCG) to Thomas to avoid conducting election campaign meetings during the Lent period, which begins on February 13 and will conclude on March 30, 2013. If such a request is not adhered to, it means that Government will have to present a budget by April and based on tradition, there appears to be no planned public budget 2013 consultation. Failure to not present a budget at the required time will also be a breach of the constitution.

If the Prime Minister, who is the one responsible to announce the date, complies with the request from the CCG, it therefore means that the election campaign period will ef-fectively be from between January 1 and February 12.

With the election regulations providing for election day to be no less than 15 days or no more than 21 days following nomination day, it is felt by many that Grenadians will be going to the polls at the same time that Trinidadians will be concluding carnival celebrations 2013.