Prime Minister Dickon Amiss Thomas Mitchell would ‘resist and reject’ all calls for him to speak on the state of the Parliamentary Elections Office (PEO) on the basis that, via the Supervisor of Elections (SoE), the PEO is constitutionally independent (Section 35) and thus he is not appropriate for such matters.
The irony though about displaying this posture must be understood in terms of the clear ‘stranglehold and influence’ which Dickon could have on the electoral system and of which he may be presently exerting to further undermine and frustrate Electoral Justice in Grenada, and/or the well-functioning of the PEO/SoE.
The June 2025 article, IS GRENADA NEXT ELECTIONS SERIOUSLY AT RISK?, points that there is no evidence of ‘seriousness and imperativeness and firmness’ by Dickon’s ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) towards affecting the necessary improvements of the electoral system, despite the various protests by NDC against the ‘capacity and conduct’ of the PEO/SoE when it was in Opposition.
Demands for Dickon to account for the failing of the electoral system are justifiable, now more than ever, especially as relates to the shocking Press Release by the PEO on 07 January 2026, with the caption Temporary electoral system shutdown, citing “a glitch in the software used for voter registration”.
The glitch forms a pattern of repeated collapses of the System during the past year but with the powers-that-be offering no detailed explanations for those occurrences and as to whether or not the System was compromised and corrupted as a result, and no explanations of any plans on sound measures to resolve and abort the problem.
With such troubling concerns for Democracy, the April 2025 article, SORRY STATE OF GRENADA VOTER REGISTRATION SYSTEM, stirs for full awareness of the Grenadian people on the consequential gravity of the situation.
This referred Article poses for a pertinent report to be laid in the House of Representatives in keeping with the Constitution, also taking into consideration an overdue review of the Constituency Boundaries, and iterates for a comprehensive forensic investigation of the electoral system, to demonstrate Transparency and Accountability for engendering Public Trust.
The ‘secretive and scheming’ attitude of the powers-that-be about the electoral system is also captured in the two-part article POTENTIAL MACHINATIONS BY NDC GOVERNMENT OF THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM.
Highlighted therein are the matters of a 04 June 2025 issued Request for Bids regarding the “Procurement, Configuration and Implementation of a Modern Identity Document Issuance System (IDIS)” at the PEO, and the ‘erroneous and questionable’ treatments engaged.
The IDIS functions as the main server of the Computerised Voter Registration System for the registering and allowing of eligible individuals to vote at elections, as required under the Representation of the People Act (RPA).
Following the limited circulation of the Specific Procurement Notice – Request for Bids, the SoE contacted certain parties with a 16 June 2025 subject, “Re: Submission of Nominee”, inviting to ‘sit on a Management Committee that governs the installation of the New Voters Registration System’.
Instructively, those developments are undertaken without the necessary engagement and understanding of the Grenadian people, and without anything about the operational ‘substance and scope and specifications’ of this IDIS.
Up until now, there is no public information from the powers-that-be about the results of the Specific Procurement Notice – Request for Bids regarding the IDIS, and the stage of the implementation.
Assuming that the Replacement Undertaking for the ‘new and upgraded’ IDIS is well-advanced, could it be that the most recent glitch which affected the entire electoral system and virtually closed the PEO to the public, was caused as a result of the ‘interfacing and testing’ of its (IDIS) installation?
Moreover, is the ‘security and integrity’ of the electoral system under pressure by the PEO/SoE conducting ‘dual or parallel or duplicate’ registering of individuals, using the old and new voter registration infrastructures?
Further to having explanations regarding the repeated collapses of the Voter Registration System, all the developments regarding the implementation of the modern IDIS should be compelling for Dickon to respond to the Parliamentary Leader of His Majesty Opposition on the pertinent matters.
On the 12 January 2026 edition of the Beyond The Headlines programme by the Grenada Broadcasting Network, Madam Emmalin Pierre of the New National Party (NNP) claimed that “the Government took a decision to put a hold on this (‘procurement’) process” for the replacement of the IDIS, which was “well on the way” in 2022 when the NDC took office in June, for a new functioning System.
What should be the verdict of the Grenadian people about any halt to the process for the modern IDIS, when also knowing about the unexplained halt in June 2024 by the PEO/SoE to the stakeholders’ consultations of the process?
Why would the Government put a hold on the procurement of a modern IDIS when the current IDIS has been condemned as being ‘limited and obsolete’, in the public domain since January 2020?
Why would the Government put a hold on the procurement of a modern IDIS when in recent years, budgetary allocations of over four million dollars have been made to replace the condemned IDIS?
Why would the Government put a hold on the procurement of a modern IDIS when on the aftermath of the 23 June 2022 general elections, the Organisation of American States (OAS) pleads for “redesigning the voter registration system” and when swearing-in, Dickon pledges to reform the electoral system?
Has the NDC Government put a hold on the procurement of the modern IDIS after recognising the extent of the technical and legal irregularities which are inherent in the process engaged for its implementation, as hinted and warned about in the Article (“potential machinations by ndc government of the electoral system”)?
Are there critical (re)considerations on the idea of having Grenada’s Computerised Voter Registration System integrated with and controlled by the World Bank’s Electronic Government for Regional Integration Project (EGRIP), consisting of a Multi-Purpose Identification (MPID) System?
Whilst Dickon may wish to have the ‘inapplicable association’ of the PEO with EGRIP, it is most likely that in all the other countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), except for the Commonwealth of Dominica where ‘electoral tumults’ prevail, there is no such link of the respective electoral systems with the EGRIP.
Dickon Mitchell is also the Minister of National Security, Public Administration and Information, with the view that information would be disseminated to the general public on a need-to-know basis.
However, at least he should be able to say to the Grenadian people as to who is the Minister of Government responsible for receiving information and reporting on the affairs of the PEO, as well as responsible for conveying and directing pertinent Government’s policies and decisions to the SoE.
With the understanding that the appointment of the SoE by the Governor-General to the PEO comes upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister, then the extent of the leverage by the Prime Minister in the PEO would depend on the ‘knowledge and integrity and strength’ of the SoE.
Recall the December 2020 article, IS GRENADA’S PRIME MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS OFFICE?, which emanates from the involvements and utterances of former Prime Minister Keith Claudius Mitchell of NNP, about the vulnerability of the PEO/SoE to the Government and the Prime Minister of the day.
Could it be established that the calls to have meaningful ‘reactions and remedies’ by the powers-that-be, concerning the state of the electoral system are not ‘deserving and warranted’?
Is this counter-argument rests on the fact that Grenada has been having prominent citizens on official Elections Observation Teams on overseas occasions, who appear to have judged that there is no reason to be perturbed about the state of the local System and thus making no substantial statements on such matters.
Of special reference are Chester Humphrey and Arley Gill on the CARICOM Mission for the general elections in St. Kitts and Nevis in June 2020, and Lady Anande Trotman on the Commonwealth Mission for the December 2024 general elections in Ghana of West Africa.
The questions however remain; what causes and constitutes rigged elections, and at what point and place do these occur?
J.K Roberts