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DE RUEHGR #0095/01 1932321
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R 112321Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY GRENADA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0447
INFO RUEHWN/AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN 0481
RUEHGR/AMEMBASSY GRENADA 0526

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GRENADA 000095 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR JONATHAN MITCHELL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV GJ XL
SUBJECT: NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS ENDS NEW NATIONAL PARTY 13 YEAR 
RULE 
 
SUMMARY 
¶1. (SBU) Grenada's main opposition party, the National 
Democratic Congress (NDC), won a landslide victory on July 8, 
2008, taking eleven of fifteen seats in the lower house of 
Parliament.  With 80 percent of registered voters voting, NDC 
won 50.97 percent to the New National Party's (NNP) 47.77 
percent of the vote.  All other political parties contesting the 
election together garnered less than 2 percent of the vote.  NDC 
political leader Tillman Thomas was sworn in as Grenada's new 
Prime Minister July 9.  The initial reaction of NDC supporters 
was a giddy euphoria after thirteen years out of power (and 25 
years for some of them).  The outgoing Prime Minister, Keith 
Mitchell, whose New National Party won only four seats 
(including his), promised to lead a "constructive opposition" to 
the NDC government.  Reports of threats of reprisals by NDC 
operatives and supporters are rising as the newly empowered NDC 
followers publicly beat Mitchell in effigy and threatened to 
"take care of" their non-NDC rivals.  Civil society groups 
dropped all pretense of non-partisanship to take to the stage 
with the NDC celebrating the ousting of the NNP and Keith 
Mitchell.  End Summary. 
Elections Deemed Free and Fair 
¶2. (U) Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of 
American States (OAS) Ambassador Albert Ramdin declared 
Grenada's July 8 elections as "free and fair."  Ramdin called on 
the new government to deal with problems with the electoral list 
immediately rather than waiting for the next election, but 
pronounced himself generally satisfied with the conduct of the 
election.  The separate July 4 police vote went smoothly and the 
secure retention of the marked ballots over the weekend also 
worked well.  There were 38 observers and volunteers under the 
auspices of the OAS election observer mission, including five 
USG employees from Embassy Bridgetown. 
Euphoria Reigns 
¶3. (U) National Democratic Congress (NDC) party members and 
followers danced in the streets after the results were announced 
on July 8.  The ruling New National Party (NNP) had been seeking 
an unprecedented fourth term, but retained only four seats. 
Tillman Thomas was sworn in as Prime Minister on July 9 and the 
celebrations continued throughout the day. 
¶4. (SBU) NDC members, especially those who joined the party 
after the 1999 elections and therefore had never been in the 
majority, were giddy and gleeful by turns.  NDC supporters 
dragged effigies of Mitchell attached to long pieces of rope in 
the street and kicked and beat the figures.  While Thomas called 
for healing and promised good governance, even he could not 
resist taking potshots at the losers.  Others, less diplomatic, 
called outright for revenge and denounced anyone supporting the 
NNP or either of the two labor parties, Grenada United Labour 
Party (GULP) and the People's Labour Movement (PLM) (jointly 
known as the United Labour Platform for this election).  Reports 
of threats of reprisals against former government officials, 
NNP, and members of Grenada's labor coalition parties (which won 
no seats in the election) are surfacing.  This includes one 
socio-political commentator who told Charge d'Affaires that he 
has received threats and fears for his life if he continues to 
write articles critical of the government.  He has already told 
the editor of the paper that carries his column that he likely 
will resign. 
¶5. (SBU) After thirteen years out of power, it may take the NDC 
some time to organize its government.  NDC operatives initially 
locked government workers out of the ministries on July 10 and 
put party operatives in offices to watch the workers when they 
were finally allowed in, which as one post contact told Charge, 
carries echoes of the methods of the People's Revolutionary 
Government (PRG) in power from 1979 to 1983.  (NOTE: About 15 to 
20 members of the NDC who joined the party after it failed in 
1999 to win any seats, were active members of the PRG and the 
People's Revolutionary Army (PRA) who left Grenada after the 
revolution's collapse in 1983 and returned in the mid to late 
1990's.  Tillman Thomas was also a participant, but was 
imprisoned after working on opening a newspaper with 19 others. 
He is one of the few original members of the NDC (founded in the 
1980's) left in a party leadership position.  END NOTE)  One 
employee in the Prime Minister's ministry was taken by police to 
the Criminal Investigations Unit (CID) for taking documents out 
of the office.  The documents turned out to be personal papers, 
but instead of determining this while still in the office, the 
woman was subjected to a six hour interrogation and publicly 
humiliated. 
¶6. (U) The government promised to announce ministerial 
assignments as quickly as possible, but it will likely take 
several days for the new government to organize itself.  In 
addition, senators must be nominated for appointment to the 
upper house of Parliament.  Most likely, several of the losers 
in the election will be named senators and then assigned 
ministries.  Even if all the pieces are in place in the next 
week, the process may be complicated by Carnival which will take 
place on August 11-12 this year.  Very little business gets done 
 
GRENADA 00000095  002 OF 003 
 
 
during the first two weeks of August. 
¶7. (SBU) The NDC will likely ask Governor General Sir Daniel 
Williams to resign so the government can put forward someone 
more to its liking.  Again, it is not yet clear how quickly this 
might happen.  Sir Danny, a long-time NNP supporter, appeared 
quite upset during the swearing in ceremony, though during the 
cocktail party that followed, he appeared his usual cheerful 
self. 
Promises to Keep 
¶8. (SBU) Once the government is in place, it will need to lower 
the public's expectations.  During the campaign, the NDC 
promised to lower the cost of living, provide free health care 
to all, give free school books to all school children, provide 
free college education to all who qualify, fix the public 
service, and more.  The country's debt level is currently 126 
percent of GDP.  The government will be constrained as well by 
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) standby program and other 
financial obligations.  There will be very little wiggle room 
with the budget.  Eventually, the government will have to 
implement a value added tax, as recommended by the IMF, the EU, 
the U.S., and others, especially if it does eliminate the 5 
percent hurricane recovery tax (HRT) as promised.  The HRT 
expires at the end of the year and the government may find 
excuses to leave it in place until then if it cannot find 
quickly other sources of income. 
¶9. (SBU) Among the promises the new government will find itself 
pressed to make good on almost immediately, is to provide free 
school books to all students.  Grenadians are already beginning 
to purchase books for the next school year and are asking how 
they will be reimbursed.  The other campaign promise that the 
local population is looking forward to taking advantage of is an 
allowance for each Grenadian to import one barrel of goods each 
duty-free between now and Christmas.  Quite a few Grenadians are 
making plans for family members to each order everything they 
can.  If even half the population takes them up on this, the 
government will lose a great deal of customs duties. 
¶10. (SBU) Political promises made during the campaign are also 
much on people's minds, including amending the constitution to 
limit a prime minister to two terms.  Bishop Darius, active in 
civil society, told Charge that he is worried NDC might 
conveniently forget this promise now that it is in power. 
Not Very Civil Society 
¶11. (SBU) Non-governmental organizations in Grenada are 
generally highly partisan although they protest otherwise.  It 
was instructive to see how many NGO members of the Campaign 
Watchdog Group (CWG) joined NDC candidates on the campaign 
platforms throughout the campaign as well as on the winners' 
platforms Tuesday night celebrating "freedom from bondage 
suffered since the collapse of the revolution in 1983" as well 
as a "return from the wilderness" after 13 years of an NNP 
government.  One CWG member apparently browbeat election 
officials to allow her to vote in a district she neither lives 
in nor is registered in because she wanted to support the 
particular NDC candidate, and then boasted about her success to 
a USG employee! 
¶12. (U) Trinidadian political journalist and commentator Andy 
Johnson, in Grenada for the election week, appeared on the July 
10 edition of the Grenada Broadcast Network's early morning 
television program.  He questioned NGO and labor representative 
guests about whether there was any contradiction between their 
self-declared neutrality and their direct and public 
participation in political party campaign rallies and victory 
activities on the platforms.  The Grenadian host of the show and 
the guests appeared nonplussed by the question and struggled to 
provide an answer. 
A Constructive Opposition 
¶13. (U) Former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, who won his own 
seat by a huge majority, conceded defeat on Tuesday night, even 
as haggling continued over one seat (which the NNP was later 
confirmed to have won).  He promised to lead a constructive 
opposition and called on all NNP members to accept the results 
of the democratic vote and work with the winners.  Appearing 
relaxed and comfortable on television at his private residence, 
Mitchell promised that he would lead a constructive opposition 
and work with the ruling party in the House of Representatives 
to the benefit of the country. 
¶14. (SBU) Post confirmed rumors first heard on election day that 
the NDC ordered all official vehicles and the PM's bodyguards 
back to police barracks on July 8, leaving Mitchell exposed for 
over 24 hours before power shifted to Thomas.  Mitchell told 
Charge that on July 8, he found himself stranded at the office 
with no way to get home.  He called home to have a member of his 
household bring his car to pick him up.  In Grenada, the losing 
prime minister retains power until the moment when the Governor 
General swears in the new prime minister.  There is a several 
minute power gap between when the new PM verbally takes the 
oaths and when he signs the book recording his assumption of 
duties.  It would appear to be a deliberate act by the NDC to 
leave Mitchell vulnerable. 
 
GRENADA 00000095  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶15. (SBU) Mitchell told Charge that he will be quiet: "you won't 
hear from me for a while" and allow the new government to 
function.  He promised that he will work with the government on 
programs vital to the development of the country, adding that it 
is the country that is important, not one person.  That said, 
NNP spokesman Terry Forrester has been very vocal over the last 
several days about reported threats against NNP supporters and 
the removal of security and vehicles from the outgoing PM while 
he was still in power.  It remains to be seen how the NNP will 
operate in Parliament as an opposition, whether constructive as 
Mitchell has promised or obstructive as the NDC often pursued 
such as walking out of Parliament en masse over perceived 
slights. 
COMMENT 
¶16. (SBU) NDC leaders attribute their win to the winds of change 
blowing across the Caribbean.  Perhaps as likely an explanation 
was Keith Mitchell's 13 years in office, the longest of any 
Grenadian Prime Minister.  Many Grenadians were leery of 
granting Mitchell and the NNP a fourth term, but worried about 
the former PRG/PRA members in the NDC.  Ultimately, the worry 
about length of time in office - a fourth term could have 
potentially given the NNP 18 years in office - appears to have 
trumped the fear of former revolutionaries.  In the last week of 
campaigning, the NDC compared Mitchell to Mugabe - the old 
corrupt leader who will not give up power, using pictures of the 
two (not actually together but doctored to seem so and often in 
similar outfits) to make their point. 
¶17. (SBU) The contrast between the NDC and NNP promises came 
into sharper focus late in the campaign when the NDC finally 
released a manifesto - an almost verbatim copy of the Barbados' 
Democratic Labour Party's (DLP) manifesto - that gained 
traction.  It literally promised more than the NNP manifesto 
did, including free health care for all, an over 100 percent 
increase in pensions for some Grenadians, free college education 
for all, and other government hand outs.  That no explanation 
was provided as to how all this largesse would be paid for 
seemed beside the point.  For a population still suffering the 
effects of Hurricane Ivan, rising food and fuel costs, and an 
overall increase in poverty, these promises may have helped many 
undecided voters to vote for the NDC.  Also a factor in any 
Grenadian campaign is how much money is given directly to the 
voters, either through make-work jobs like bushing or direct 
monetary handouts.  We understand the Chinese were major 
contributors to the NDC, both in cash and in kind and grudgingly 
gave much less to the NNP.  The Ambassador from the Bolivarian 
Republic of Venezuela was not at Thomas' swearing in and when 
Charge asked an NDC insider why, she was told that the 
Venezuelans had given more money to the NNP than to the NDC. 
¶18. (SBU) Finally, Mitchell appears to have overestimated the 
strength of the youth vote and underestimated the appeal of 
experienced versus inexperienced candidates.  The NNP fielded 
more first-time candidates than the NDC.  While several of them 
did quite well and ran close races, they all ultimately lost to 
more seasoned campaigners.  This may position the NNP well for 
future elections as the older politicians retire and the party 
can turn to younger pols with some campaign experience, but it 
did not work this time around.  End Comment. 
MCISAAC