General elections were held in Grenada on 13 September 1962.

Electoral System

The 10 members of the Legislative Council were elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting.

Background

Grenada`s Administrator, the Queens representative on the island, James Lloyd suspended the constitution, dissolved the Legislative Council, and removed Eric Gairy as Chief Minister in June 1962, following allegations concerning the Gairy`s financial impropriety. Gairy had been Chief Minister for 10 months since August 1961 and his party the Grenada United Labour Party held a majority in the Legislative Council following the 1961 elections.  The negative publicity surrounding the removal of Gairy led to a significant fall in support for Grenada United Labour Party.

Political Parties & Candidates

Two political parties contested the election - the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) and the Grenada National Party (GNP). The GULP presented nine candidates, GNP a full slate of 10 candidates, and there was also one independent candidate.

Results

Herbert Blaize's Grenada National Party won six of the 10 seats and 53.73% of the vote. The Grenada United Labour Party won the remaining four seats and 45.98% of the votes.

Herbert Blaize was appointed Chief Minister for the second time.  Blaize served as Head of Government until the next general election in August 1967, initially as Chief Minister until March 1967, and subsequently when Grenada became a fully internally autonomous Associated State, as Grenada's first Premier. 

Voter Turnout

Voter turnout was 72.6%.