St. George’s, Grenada (June 10, 2008) Grenada newspaper has criticized Clarice Charles, General Secretary of the New National Party, for “derogatory” remarks directed at candidates of the National Democratic Congress running in the July 8 general election.
 The Grenada Advocate, without using the name of Charles, said: “It was so disappointing to hear a prominent female politician on a platform describing candidates in derogatory terms such as lazy, borderline vagrant and drunk.”
 The general election was the editorial topic in the Advocate and in most of the other local weekly newspapers. Advocate said while the election announcement date was not a “big secret” to many, it left questions about “the possible circumstances” under which it was called.
 
 The paper asked: “Was the announcement of a July 8 election date at Cuthbert Peter’s Park in Gouyave last Sunday a pre-emptive strike by (Prime Minister) Dr. Mitchell to perhaps avert scenarios within his ranks that would have compromised his administration? Perhaps not, but speculation about an election date and internal wrangling raged like our dry season forest fires last weekend.”
 
 Advocate said that in campaigning, political parties “need to focus on issues, particularly those which would directly affect the lives of Grenadians.” An issues-based campaign is something the NDC has committed itself to and has been doing. For its part, Grenada Informer implored Grenadians to “behave responsibly – particularly those who would be attending political meetings.”
 
 “The two main political parties have essentially been campaigning for quite some time and what is left for them now might be described as final touches,” said the Informer editorial.
 
 Grenada Today reasoned that Prime Minister Mitchell may just have been “trying to be as truthful as one can be when he stated that the July 8 election means so much to him.” The newspaper said an NNP defeat, after 13 years in office, would leave the Prime Minister open to the resumption of legal proceedings against him.
 
 “A defeat for the Prime Minister,” writes Grenada Today, “will bring an end to his current status as a fugitive from justice in the United States. It will be impossible for the U.S. State Department to continue to harbour and grant him immunity from prosecution as Head of Government in Grenada.”
 According to the Grenada Today editorial, “no one else but the Prime Minister fully understands the implications of a defeat at the polls for him personally.”.