Dominica elections: Skerrit sticks with old constituency on Nomination Day

CMC – Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit Friday said his ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) is seeking to bring new energy to the country and remained confident that the party would win the December 6 snap general election.

“I am very grateful to the voters of the Vieille Case Constituency who reposed their confidence in me in 2000 at age 27 and they are all still standing strong with me today. So I am a very fortunate and blessed candidate. Every success I have had in politics is due to the people of the Vieille Case Constituency,” Skerrit told reporters after he was nominated to contest the seat on the north coast of the island.

The DLP has nominated candidates for all 21 seats in the Parliament. In the 2019 general election it won 18 seats.

Skerrirt, 50, who has been in office since 2004,  called the general elections two years ahead of the constitutional deadline, telling reporters “as I indicated, this is a national reset.

“We are seeking to bring new energy so that we can face the challenges ahead,” he said, making reference to the impact the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had on world economies, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War and the effects of climate change on vulnerable states.

“At this time we need strong decisive leadership and this is what I have provided the country with for the last eighteen years and this is what I will continue to give to this country after the elections are held.”

The main opposition parties –the United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) – have said they will boycott the polls because of the lack of promised electoral reform. At least two independent candidates have said they will contest the polls and the newly formed Team Unity Dominica (TUD) said it will nominate candidates.

“Voting is one of the most important decisions that anybody can make in his lifetime as a qualified voter in this country. In some parts of the world, in Australia for example, voting is mandatory, you must vote, in Dominica it is a choice,” Skerrit told reporters.

But he said that this choice has to be utilised “in a serious way because how you vote can determine how your life will be in the next five years “.

The Electoral Office said that all Returning Officers and Election Clerks will be available at designated nomination centres on Friday to receive nomination papers and Statutory Declarations from prospective candidates.

“The Officers will begin receiving nominations at 9.00 am until 4.00 pm (local time) for seven hours continuously. If at the end of seven hours, there is only one candidate duly nominated, the returning officer will immediately declare that candidate to be duly elected. If there is more than one candidate duly nominated, the Returning Officer will adjourn the poll to the date stated in the writ, December 6th, 2022,” the Electoral Office added.

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