The Dominica government expects to receive a report from former president of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Sir Dennis Byron, regarding constitutional reform.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said on national TV on Sunday that Cabinet had last week approved the engagement of Sir Dennis “as the sole Commissioner to advance efforts towards electoral reform.
“This was a firm commitment that we gave and notwithstanding the COVID-19 period we felt it was important for us to advance efforts towards electoral reform and Sir Dennis has indicated to us he will commence the exercise in September and he should be in a position to submit the final report by the end of December,” Skerrit said.
“This is good news for us. It is a commitment to us. Electoral reform for this government is important, is important for the country and we hope that once Sir Dennis would have submitted his report then we can go to the parliament to effect the necessary changes he will recommend to the country to move forward,” Skerrit added.
The main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) had demanded electoral reform ahead of last December’s general elections, but the Skerrit administration said it had been stymied by Opposition legislators who refused to debate the necessary legislation needed to advance the electoral reform process.
The UWP tried to get the December 6, 2019, general elections postponed to February this year on the grounds that there was need for electoral reform, more specifically the issuances of picture identification cards and a cleansing of the voters’ list.
In his television program on Sunday, Skerrit said he was confident that the country would accept the report submitted by Sir Dennis, describing him as “an exceptional Commonwealth citizen.
CMC
