Governor-General Sir Daniel Williams has taken the first step towards setting up a 3-member Commission of Inquiry to look into the controversial November 27, 2003 general election won by a one-seat margin by the ruling New National Party (NNP) of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell.

Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that the Cabinet has agreed to the setting up of the inquiry and has communicated this to the island's Head of State.

Under the Grenada constitution, the Governor-General is the one with the sole responsibility to set up a Commission of Inquiry into the poll.

The source said that Sir Daniel has written to Opposition Leader Tillman Thomas asking him to submit the name of one person whom he would like to sit on the commission.

Under the plan, the Governor-General will appoint the Head of the commission and invite the Prime Minister to suggest the name of the other person to sit on the independent body. In the election, the NNP won eight seats and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) the other seven seats.

The Organisation of American States (OAS) sent an Observer Team to witness the election and in its preliminary report the group dropped strong hints about voter-padding in the process.

The OAS group also expressed concerns about several aspects of the elections including the size of the voter's list of 80, 000 persons given the population of the island of around 100, 000 persons.

The hemispheric body also lamented the fact that a number of persons were denied their constitutional right to vote despite voting in previous general elections. NDC's Deputy Political Leader George Prime has filed a writ in the high court challenging his defeat by six votes in the Carriacou & Petite Martinique constituency to Legal Affairs Minister Elvin Nimrod.

Prime is alleging that one ballot could not be accounted for during the recount and that one person on the mainland is known to have voted for someone living in New York among other irregularities. According to the source, the NDC will be holding an executive meeting shortly to discuss the contents of Sir Daniel's letter to the Opposition Leader.

He said the opposition is concerned over the holding of another Commission of Inquiry on the island given the financial implications involved for the country. In addition, he said the initial thinking of the NDC is that the inquiry seems bent on making Supervisor of Elections Victor Ashby the scapegoat or fall guy and the opposition will not be party to this at all.

"We would have to meet as a group and go through this letter (from Sir Daniel) in details because a quick reading of it raises a number of questions.

"For instance some of the things that they want the Commission to come up with can be gotten by just telephoning the Supervisor of Elections and asking him for it", he added.

The official pointed out that the Congress party would like to see the Mitchell-led government stop wasting time on a Commission of Inquiry and sit down with the Opposition "to bring about electoral reform for the good of the country".
Prime Minister Mitchell has already stated his commitment to electoral reform.