Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has brushed aside calls by the opposition for President Charles Savarin to rescind the writ for the December 6 snap general election, insisting that the polls will go ahead two years ahead of the constitutional deadline.
Addressing a meeting of his ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) in the north eastern village of Cocaine on Sunday night, Skerrit said the opposition parties were not prepared for the snap poll, and instead are seeking another two years to ready themselves.
“Well, Dominica cannot wait two years to re-ignite its economy. Dominica cannot wait two years to kick start its geothermal sector, Dominica cannot wait two years to accelerate the building of an international airport, Dominica cannot wait two years to relocate residents of the southeastern districts,” he told the rally, saying these issues are current and need to be acted upon now.
He said the DLP, which won 18 of the 21 seats in the 2019 general election, is seeking a re-set, adding “we shall hit the road in 2023 re-energized and ready for the challenges that lay ahead.
“I am saying to the voters of this country, do not be distracted by the shenanigans of the opposition forces. They want elections put back because they are not ready,” Skerrit said, adding “they cannot agree among themselves who should lead them”.
Last weekend, a coalition of opposition political parties and civil society organizations, said they planned to stage peaceful protests from next Thursday to stop the general election, insisting that no elections should be held in Dominica without electoral reform.
Former agriculture minister Athie Martin, who has been staging weekly protests, told a news conference of the Electoral Reform Coalition (ERC) that while there were many options available to protestors, “I am suggesting if you are going to start this campaign, which we have agreed to start it must be a campaign to the finish.
“We must not stop until the desired outcome is obtained. The desired option comes in stages. If we can stop the nomination process that is stage one, if we can stop the actual election that is stage two.
“What is stage three, I leave it to your imagination that all I have to stay to that,” he told reporters.
The Concerned Citizens Movement of Dominica (CCM) said it was joining the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) in urging citizens to boycott the election until Sir Dennis Byron, the former president of the Caribbean Court of Justice completes his assignment as the sole commissioner advancing the efforts towards electoral reform.
Sir Dennis had proposed presenting the first phase of his report by the end of November with the Parliament tabling the Register of Electors legislation in December and the plan to enact it in January 2023.
CMC/
