At the party’s final rally of the 2018 election campaign, NDC leader Nazim Burke made an impassioned plea not just to party supporters but also to the wider voting population of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

Burke, addressing the rally Sunday at Morne Rouge Playing Field in St George’s, alluded to the NDC’s ouster from government in 2013, in a 15-0 defeat by the New National Party (NNP).

“We understood , sisters and brothers, that if we were going to regain your confidence, we ourselves had to be a strong, united force, capable and deserving of your confidence and your trust,’’ said Burke, the former Minister of Finance.

“We mean it when we say we are here to serve. We come to you in humility to serve you. And so, sisters and brothers, we humbly ask you tonight to give your support to the National Democratic Congress.’’

However, Burke’s appeal for support clearly fell on deaf ears. Voters, who went to the polls Tuesday, returned the same verdict as it did in 2013. They gave all 15 seats in the Lower House of Parliament to the NNP headed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell.

The Grenadian leader has said that “our best days are ahead of us’’, promising heavy spending to create jobs, overhaul the water and sewage systems, rehabilitate and transform towns, and to “build a network of roads that will be the envy of the region’’.

“Within a decade, we can build Grenada into a dominant economic powerhouse in the region, on the backs of record investments and record employment,’’ said Dr Mitchell, who was reelected as MP for St George North-West.

Tuesday’s NNP victory sparked celebratory activities across the nation, including at the party’s St George’s headquarters, where Dr Mitchell was joined by supporters and some of his victorious candidates.

Burke, who was handed the NDC leadership mantle after the crushing 2013 general defeat, suffered another personal loss. He was unable to retake the St George North-East seat from Tobias Clement, who also beat him five years ago.

Altogether, there were 45 candidates – some independents and some representing little-known parties. More than 78,000 Grenadians were eligible to vote.

Long lines, of voters waiting to cast their ballots, were witnessed in the early hours of polling.

NDC, in the run up to the polls, expressed confidence of winning, usually citing Town of St George as going its way. In the constituency, NDC pitted Claudette Joseph – a lawyer – against another lawyer, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter David.

David, who was expelled from NDC in 2012 and later joined the NNP, won the Town of St George constituency in 2003 and 2008; however, he sat out the polls of 2013.

Tuesday’s win by David – by more than 800 votes – was his largest margin of his three electoral victories in the constituency.

“This victory, I would put it on top of all others,’’ said David. “I think what is most gratifying to me, is that I’m a new member of the New National Party; and the New National Party members embrace me. In addition to that, many persons from the old NDC party that I belonged to, came with me to the New National Party.’’

The victory on Tuesday, David added, “is sweet in the sense that it says to me, ‘Peter you made the right decision’; and the people of the Town of St George deserve all the credit.’’

Tuesday made it the third time the NDC has failed to win a seat in a general election; each time losing to the NNP. The late George Brizan, prime minister at the time, was also NDC leader in 1999, when the party went down 15-0 at the polls. Former Prime Minister Tillman Thomas was leader five years ago when the NDC was shut out at the polls.