St. George’s, January 15, 2013 – The war of the airwaves in Grenada’s general election campaign has begun. Radio talkshows are wholly dominated by political discussions, partisan opinions of hosts, and with callers phoning to support their respective parties.

Up to Tuesday, only the New National Party (NNP) of former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell had hit the airwaves with paid commercials.

It’s similar to the situation in 2008 when, immediately following the election date announcement by the NNP, the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) was first off the mark with television campaign advertising.

The NDC won the 2008 polls 11 – 4 over the NNP.

In one of the current ads, the NNP plays on an NDC 2008 election promise to increase payment to senior citizens under one of the social network programs from $150 to $400.

In the four-and-a-half years it has been the government, NDC only moved the payment from $150 to $200.

The NNP ad attacks what it calls “broken promises’’ and “failed leadership,’’ with photos of Prime Minister and NDC leader Tillman Thomas and his deputy Nazim Burke, minister of finance.

General elections will be held February 19 in Grenada.