At a formal signing ceremony held at the Organization of American States’ Washington D.C. headquarters on Friday, OAS Secretary General Albert R Ramdin and Grenada’s Permanent Representative to the OAS, Ambassador Tarlie Francis, inked a landmark accord outlining full legal privileges and immunities for the upcoming OAS Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) tasked with monitoring Grenada’s November 5 general election.
During the ceremony, Ramdin emphasized that the legitimacy of a democratic nation is never measured by its geographic or demographic scale, but by the integrity of its electoral systems and the trust those systems earn from its citizens. He praised Grenada’s longstanding dedication to upholding democratic norms, noting that the forthcoming observation team will publish a comprehensive post-election report featuring evidence-based observations and targeted recommendations designed to reinforce the Caribbean nation’s democratic governance frameworks for future electoral cycles.
For her part, Ambassador Francis reiterated Grenada’s unwavering commitment to constitutional democracy, the supremacy of the rule of law, and full transparency across all stages of the upcoming electoral process. She underscored that independent, neutral electoral observation has become a cornerstone of the inter-American democratic tradition, noting that the impartiality of international observers, the rigor of their independent assessments, and the actionable insights their final reports deliver create critical pathways for institutional learning and continuous improvement of national electoral systems.
Heading the 2024 OAS EOM is Sherry Tross, a seasoned former ambassador from St. Kitts and Nevis with decades of experience in regional democratic governance initiatives. This deployment marks the 9th time the OAS has sent an official observation mission to Grenada, a partnership that stretches back to the Caribbean nation’s 1984 electoral cycle.
Latest data released by Grenada’s Parliamentary Elections Office (PEO) confirms that 97,020 eligible voters have been formally registered to cast ballots in the upcoming poll, representing a notable uptick from the 87,566 registered voters recorded during the 2022 general election. In that 2022 contest, the incumbent New National Party (NNP) – which had previously held every single seat in Grenada’s parliament for a consecutive term – ceded 9 of 15 total parliamentary seats to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), leaving the remaining 6 seats in NNP hands.
Ahead of the 2024 vote, both established major parties, the NDC and NNP, have fielded full slates of candidates across all 15 national constituencies, with the PEO confirming a total of 46 nominees vying for parliamentary seats across the country. Adding to the electoral landscape is the newly founded Democratic People’s Movement (DPM), led by former Grenadian foreign affairs minister Peter David, which is fielding candidates in 9 of the 15 constituencies to compete for representation in the next national parliament.
OAS to monitor general elections in Grenada
