Gonsalves Endorses Tevin Andrews and Dickon Mitchell Ahead of Grenada Election

In a video message to Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, SVG Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves praises the NDC’s Carriacou MP and the Prime Minister as Caribbean patriots three weeks before the November 5 vote.

Opposition Leader of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, has released a video message addressed to the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, offering strong personal and political praise for Tevin Andrews and Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell. The Grenada election is set for Thursday, November 5, 2026, with candidates filing nominations on October 15.

Gonsalves opens by identifying himself as “Comrade Ralph” from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and greets the people of the tri-island state. He gives particular attention to the residents of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, describing them as neighbors, and says he is highly impressed with their representative, whom he calls “my dear brother, Tevin Andrews.”

Praise for Andrews ahead of the Grenada election

According to Gonsalves, Andrews has done excellent work for his constituency and has also worked well with the people of SVG’s Southern Grenadines. He describes Andrews as a social democrat “in every part of his body” who loves the people of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

The Opposition Leader ties that commitment to the approach of Prime Minister Mitchell, saying Mitchell’s love for the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique is clear. Noting that he has worked with both men in recent years, Gonsalves calls them Caribbean patriots and Grenadian patriots who want the best for their people.

“Loving in the particular”

Gonsalves then turns to what he sees as effective leadership. It is possible to love in general, he argues, but what matters more is loving in the particular. True leaders, he says, draw out what is good and noble in people, including qualities they may not yet know they possess.

He describes Andrews and Mitchell as men of courage and resilience who keep the interests of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique at heart and who defend the country’s sovereignty. Gonsalves closes by saying he is happy to be their friend and political colleague, offers a blessing to the people of Grenada, and wishes them a peaceful Grenada election.

A returned favor in the Grenada election

The message reverses a gesture made in SVG’s own election campaign last year. In November 2025, Andrews traveled to the Southern Grenadines and campaigned for the Unity Labour Party in Mayreau and Union Island, endorsing the ULP’s candidate there and praising Gonsalves’s leadership. The ULP went on to lose the November 27, 2025 general election to the New Democratic Party, which won 14 of 15 seats. Gonsalves held his North Central Windward seat and was appointed Leader of the Opposition on December 1, 2025.

It also marks a shift in tone from Gonsalves’s time in office. Ahead of Grenada’s 2013 election, then Prime Minister Gonsalves told reporters he would make no comment on the contest and would work with whichever leader voters chose. Now out of government, he has openly backed the NDC team. (See more of our Ralph Gonsalves coverage.)

Who is Tevin Andrews?

Andrews won the Carriacou and Petite Martinique seat for the NDC in the June 2022 general election, which brought Mitchell to power after the NNP had held all 15 seats. He serves as Minister for Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs and Local Government.

Mitchell called the Grenada election almost a year ahead of the constitutional deadline of October 2027 and is seeking a second consecutive term for the NDC. Carriacou and Petite Martinique, like SVG’s Southern Grenadines, were among the communities devastated by Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024. Follow our Grenada election 2026 coverage through polling day.