The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is concerned about the re-appearance of names of dead persons on the eligible list of voters for the upcoming general elections in Grenada.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Tillman Thomas said that the party has been scrutinising the list as put out by the Electoral Office and was discovery the names of several dead persons.

"Because of our readiness we have been able to point out and identify so many irregularities in the voters' list," he told a press conference. According to Thomas, the list for the constituency of St. Patrick's East which he represents includes the names of two persons who died two years ago - Martha Lessey and Cuthbert James.

"They (the dead people) were not on the June list, but they are in the September list," he said. The NDC Political Leader said he is particularly concerned that the September list from the Electoral Office failed to include the names of people who were included in the June list, along with the newly registered persons.

Information came to light last year that there was a computer crash at the Electoral Office on Woolrich Road, St. George's which caused a massive number of names to be deleted. However, Thomas differed with this version of the events with the so-called computer problem at the office headed by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of

"There (was) no computer fault (that new names are missing). There ought to be some zombies in the Electoral Office. You can only get out of a computer what you put in," he said. The NDC boss called for the integrity of the Electoral Office to be maintained by ensuring that persons who are tampering with the list be removed from the place.

Thomas stated that while his party is fully prepared for the next poll, it is mainly concerned about having an Electoral List in order that ensures that each Grenadian who is qualified to participate in the democratic process is given a fair opportunity to do so. The Congress party believes that general elections will be contested sometime this year and not in 2009.

Thomas said the signals being sent by the government itself is that it was getting into a preparatory mood for the impending poll. While being careful about speculating on a possible date for the elections, the NDC Political Leader indicated that November marks  five years since the last general elections were held and he does not foresee Dr. Mitchell utilising the extra 90 days as allowed by the constitution before setting the date for elections.

Dr. Mitchell's ruling New National party holds a slender one-seat margin in Parliament and is seeking an unprecedented four consecutive term in office.