ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – The Electoral Reform Coalition (ERC) is calling on Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley not to attend the rally of the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) on June 1, saying it is “ highly inappropriate” for her to do so given that she is currently the chairman of the 15-member regional integration grouping, CARICOM.
In the four-page letter sent to Prime Minister Mottley and copied to the CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett, the ERC chairman, Johnson Boston, said she would be addressing an event less than three months after the government “bulldozed electoral legislation in the House of Assembly, and declared citizens’ right to protest as patently illegal.”
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit stated that the DLP would not allow opposition forces to “weaken” the country as he defended the decision to introduce electoral reform here.
In a statement ahead of the DLP’s 70th anniversary on June 1 this year, Skerrit said that the opposition forces now want to pretend that they “care more about democracy.
In March, the Dominica Parliament approved electoral reform legislation even as police fired teargas and rubber bullets at opposition supporters who claimed that the government had not been transparent enough in dealing with the matter.
The Dominica government tabled three bills late last year, namely the Electoral Commission Bill 2024, the House of Assembly (Elections) Bill 2024, and the Registration of Electors Bill 2024. Parliament gave its approval to the legislation that had been reviewed by the relevant individuals and groups since Sir Dennis Byron, the former president of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), submitted his report on electoral reform on June 12, 2023.
During the debate, one of the two opposition legislators, Anthony Charles, supported the measure, telling legislators that for more than 17 years, the issue of electoral reform has been an “ongoing debate.
Boston recalled that last January, the ERC wrote to Mottley in her capacity as CARICOM chairman “appealing for Caricom’s intervention in persuading the Government of Dominica to respect the rights of citizens to free and fair elections. Your response to us was dismissive.
“Never in the 53 years of CARICOM has a sitting Chairman participated in a partisan political rally: it appears that you are prepared to set a precedent in the Commonwealth of Dominica, where the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) has been in office for more than 25 years amidst wide condemnation of fraudulent election contexts.”
The ERC said that the DLP’s 70th anniversary should not be viewed as an excuse for Time Minister Mottley “to break CARICOM’s principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of Member States.
“Any attempt to hide your behavior under cover of ‘sister political party solidarity’ deserves to be fully condemned and exposed. You, Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, are the Chairman of CARICOM until June 30, 2025, and all your actions related to the Commonwealth of Dominica will be considered in that capacity,” Boston wrote.
The ERC said it was also urging Barbadians “to inform their Prime Minister that it is wrong to attend a political rally in Dominica while serving as CARICOM Chairman.
“The ERC also appeals to CARICOM heads of government to advise the Chairman of CARICOM against damaging Caricom’s reputation, which will be irreparable. If Prime Minister Mottley insists on participating in the rally, she should relinquish her chairmanship of CARICOM. The ERC supports political solidarity but warns that CARICOM’s reputation will suffer if its chairman engages in such untenable actions,” it said in a statement.
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