General elections were held in Grenada on 7 December 1976.

Electoral System

The 15 members of the House of Representatives were elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting.There was no fixed election date in effect in Grenada at this time; hence, the choice of election date is the prerogative of the Prime Minister.

Political Parties & Candidates

In an attempt to end the Prime Minister Eric Gairy and his ruling Grenada United Labour Party (GULP)’s seemingly unshakeable electoral monopoly, the three main opposition political parties – the leftist New Jewel Movement (NJM) under Maurice Bishop (nominating seven candidates), the centrist Grenada National Party under Herbert Blaize (nominating five candidates), and the pro-business United People’s Party under Winston Whyte, a former GULP senator (nominating two candidates) – formed a coalition party, the People’s Alliance, to contest the 1976 general elections.  The Alliance was led by Maurice Bishop.

Election Campaign

The failure of the NJM to remove Eric Gairy from power by mass protest in 1974 had forced its leaders to participate in parliamentary elections, even though they believed the electoral process to be “woefully deficient.” The youth vote, from which the NJM derived much support, became important, especially since 18-year-olds were eligible to vote for the first time. Though the PA had hoped that its broad-based support would be enough to defeat PM Gairy, it was confronted with a number of political obstacles including the passing of a number of laws like the banning of the use of public address systems by opposition parties. The GULP government had a monopoly of the airwaves, and even controlled the choice of an opposition election symbol.

Results

On polling day, GULP was returned to power but with a vastly reduced Assembly majority, as it won only nine seats - five fewer than it had held in the previous House. 

Voter Turnout

Voter turnout was 65.26%.

Post-election

Three years later, the New Jewel Movement, in a move which was supported by the majority of the population, overthrew Gairy.