DOMINICA-Dominica PM wants electoral reform debated in Parliament by yearend.

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, declaring he has no intention of “dragging the electoral reform matter up until the next general election,” says he intends to have the matter debated in the Parliament by yearend.

During the debate on the EC$1.3 billion (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) on Monday night, Skerrit told legislators that there would be ten days of public discussion on electoral reform starting on August 14.

“I will say to the country again that I want electoral reform, and let us try to get it before the end of the year. Let us go to Parliament.

“But all I will say to those in the country, Mr. Speaker, I have no intention of dragging this electoral reform agenda up until the next elections. It is going to happen in Dominica. We will come to the Parliament and pass the legislation that we have consensus on in this country, and this foolishness men are playing, dragging this thing, has to stop,” Skerrit told legislators.

Last week, Opposition Leader Jesma Paul Victor criticized the report into electoral reform undertaken by former president of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Sir Dennis Byron, saying many issues still to be resolved.

Victor, an independent legislator who contested the December 20, 2022, general election that the main opposition political parties boycotted, told the budget debate that the report “does not ensure the cleansing of the voter’svoter’s list of those persons who have been resident overseas for the past five years as our law stipulates.”

Sir Dennis had been appointed as the sole commissioner advancing the efforts towards electoral reform, a significant issue in Dominica with the opposition parties, the United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP), boycotting the last general election.

In June, he wrote to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and the UWP president Lennox Linton, indicating that he has “completed my review of the electoral legislation, systems, and processes in the Commonwealth of Dominica.

“This completes my assignment on the improvement of the electoral process in Dominica,” Dennis wrote in his June 12 letter apologizing for not meeting the original deadline to have completed the exercise by April 2023.

Dennis said that the package submitted to the government was the draft House of Assembly (Elections) Bill 2023, the draft House of Assembly (Election) Regulations, and the draft House of Assembly Election Petition Rules 2023, among other documents.

The former CCJ president said that while the presentation of the report may indicate the conclusion of his contribution to enhancing the electoral process, he remains willing to address any inquiries or provide any further support needed to bring the process to a close.

Victor told legislators that the report also does not “provide any meaningful campaign finance reform given that the government-controlled Electoral Commission can increase the amount of election campaign during an election campaign.

“It imposes no limit on spending before the prime minister calls an election,” she said, adding, “It simply fails to provide for the need for voter identification cards with biometric data to counter the fraud effectively.

“Rather, it provides for national identification cards, which would not guarantee that persons holding these cards are eligible to vote. It fails to guarantee that all opposition parties have full access to private and public media, while it proposes certain monetary and custodial penalties for violating Dominica’sDominica’s electoral laws”.”

Victor, the parliamentary representative for Salisbury, on the island’sisland’s west coast, said the report by Sir Dennis ” fails to propose the additional penalty of having those convicted of violating Dominica’sDominica’s electoral laws.

“It stops short of providing the additional penalty of disqualifying any person convicted of such offenses from contesting elections in the future. It provides a formula for Dominicans abroad, who visit Dominica for over five years, to be considered residents in Dominica, thus making them eligible to vote.”

Victor said the report provides for the registration of voters overseas, “thereby opening the door for …manipulation of this process.”.”

But Prime Minister Skerrit said on Monday night that his administration wishes to proceed with the public consultations.

“I can tell you I want it, and I want it to be dealt with by the end of this year. We have written to the Commonwealth Secretariat, we have written to the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) Secretariat, we have written to CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Secretariat, we have written to the OAS (Organization of American States).

“The OAS has agreed to send someone to Dominica to assist in the consultative process, the Commonwealth has indicated they will send someone to be part of the consultative process, the OECS have said they will send someone, and I will follow up with the Secretary General of CARICOM to send someone who can be part and observe and assist with the consultative process.

“We will have ten days of consultation from August 14,” Skerrit told legislators.