On 19 October, on the last day of his party's national convention, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell announced that general elections would be held on 27 November 2003, thus moving parliamentary elections up by nine months.

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

Some 65 candidates from five parties competed for the 15 parliamentary seats of the House of Representatives. 

Election Campaign

During the electionl campaign, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, who heads the ruling New National Party (NNP), expressed confidence that his party would be returned to office. He was seeking an unprecedented third four-year term, and cited his party' recent accomplishments as a government, i.e. the constructions of a new hospital, stadium, ministerial complex and cruise-ship pier. Nevertheless, Mr. Mitchell's economic policy over the past five years was the subject of harsh criticism from the opposition, which was spread across four political parties. 

The main opposition National Democratic Congress headed by Mr Tillman Thomas focused its campaign on accusations that the NNP had wasted public funds and mismanaged the economy. 

In the last elections in 1999, the NNP had won an overwhelming victory, obtaining all 15 seats at stake and Parliament was without an opposition until Mr Michael Baptiste left the government midway through the term and became the leader of the Opposition. He later joined the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP), on whose ticket he contested the 2003 elections.

Results

The NNP was narrowly returned to power as it had won eight seats, as compared with seven for the National Democratic Congress. The results represented a setback for Mitchell, even though he retained his St. George's West constituency. According to analysts, these were the most contentious and closely fought general elections in the island's 30 years of independence.

The seventh session of the Grenada Parliament was officially opened on 9 January 2004. For the first time in history, there was no unanimous choice for the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The government had nominated Mr. Lawrence Joseph and the opposition Ms. Cecelia Quashie. Mr. Joseph was finally chosen after the first secret ballot. On the same day, Ms. Leslie-Ann Seon was unanimously elected as President of the Senate.

The first meeting of the new Parliament was held on Friday, 9 January 2004.

Voter Turnout

Voter turnout was 57.71%.