KINGSTON, Jamaica – THE 'wipeout' of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas's first-term National Democratic Congress (NDC) Administration at Tuesday's general election in Grenada was a stunning political development that has left governance in that CARICOM state where it was some 16 years ago — without a parliamentary Opposition. In sharp contrast, and contrary to the forecasts of pollsters and expectations of some social commentators, the Barbadian electorate, on Thursday, opted to stick with an historical tradition of giving the incumbent party a second chance by returning to government for a second term Prime Minister Freundel Stuart's Democratic Labour Party (DLP), albeit with a narrow two-seat parliamentary majority in the 30-member House of Assembly. While Thomas's first-term NDC had gone into Tuesday's election for the 15-member House of Representatives amid widespread expectations and poll predictions for a change in government, the 'clean-sweep' triumph of former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell's New National Party (NNP) came as more than a surprise. Thomas's own political future as well as that of the NDC's are now up for discussion.
