Dominica’s pre-Christmas poll

The Caribbean anxiously awaits the results of today’s (December 18th) general election in Dominica. Given the wide media outreach in today’s technological world, major events like elections are followed almost on a blow-by-blow basis, whether in Barbados or Bosnia, Denmark or Dominica. There are other factors which contribute to heightened interest in neighbouring countries like Dominica. In addition to relative proximity, Dominica shares with St. Vincent and the Grenadines membership in (I) the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) currently in the process of solidarity its integration into a Single Market and (II) the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) with the EC dollar as its shared currency.{{more}}

Additionally, political parties in the CARICOM region often have allegiances with leading figures from other islands, sometimes joining the platform campaign of their sister party facing elections. Though this has not happened in Dominica so far, there has been some affinity between the governing ruling parties in SVG and Dominica, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit being once considered almost as a protégé of our own Dr. Ralph Gonsalves. There is also another SVG/Dominica connection. Both have joined the largely- Latin American grouping, ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas), in which the controversial Venezuelan President Chavez has been particularity outspoken. That membership in ALBA has become a big political issue in both countries. In SVG, the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) has been especially strident both in its criticism of our country’s relations with a Chavez-led Venezuela and in opposition to ALBA itself. Though it has not clearly outlined a policy position, the comments of its leading spokespersons, on the platform and in the media, suggest that a NDP government would sever links with ALBA at the minimum if not with Venezuela under Chavez.

By contrast, the Dominican Opposition, both the official Parliamentary Opposition, the United Workers Party (UWP) and the party of Prime Minster, the late Dame Eugenia Charles, the Freedom Party, have adopted a far more mature stance. While, like the NDP here, both have raised the issue of transparency, they have made it clear that if elected to office, Dominica’s membership of ALBA will be maintained. This is a far more rational approach than the vitriolic diatribe of NDP spokespersons here who seem unable to comprehend the complexities of modern international relations and who mislead their less discerning supporters into a simplistic and slavish outlook on foreign policy issues.

The Dominica elections, while seen as a straight fight between the governing Dominica Labour Party (DLP), in office since 2000 and seeking a third straight term, and its predecessor as government, the Opposition United Workers Party, actually has three other parties in the fray. The party of Dame Eugenia Charles, the Freedom Party, now led by another female, Ms. Judith Pestaina, is also contesting, as is the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) led by former General Secretary of the Labour Party, Dr. William “Parra” Riviere and the Dominica Progressive Party.

It is interesting to note that though Dominica has a much smaller population than SVG, 70,000 as against our 110,000, its Parliament is much larger. Thus there are 21 seats at stake in the December 18th poll. These will be contested by 61 candidates. Prime Minister Skerritt’s Labour Party is fielding a full state of candidates, the only party to do so. The UWP, led by former civil society activist Ron Green, has put up 17 candidates and the Freedom Party 11. The smaller parties, the DPP(4) and PDM (3) are joined by five independent candidates.

In 2005, the Labour Party won 12 of the 21 seats, with 52 per cent of the votes cast, while the UWP, which polled 43 per cent, got 8 seats. In one constituency, Castle Bruce, the home of Fairtrade in Dominica, the result was the closet possible one with the victor winning by a single vote. Campaigning has been vigorous and contentious as it usually is in Caribbean elections. The state of the economy, corruption and election funding have been major issues, though in the closing stages, the issue of the possession of non-Dominican citizenship by both Prime Minster Skerrit (French) and Opposition Leader Green (American) has surfaced.

These issues make for interesting reading in the context of the rejection by the Vincentian electorate of the Constitution Bill 2009. That Bill contained solutions to the problem of reconciling the proportion of seats won to the percentage of votes obtained, provisions for integrity in public office and a proposal to permit persons holding a foreign passport or citizenship, who would normally be disqualified from contesting, to qualify for elections if she /she is not under and additional allegiance to a foreign power or has not renounced local citizenship.

Projections are for a close-fought election. Amazingly, nine years ago, when the Labour party took office in Dominica in 2000, the then 28-year-old Roosevelt Skerrit was little known outside his constituency. The sudden death of his two immediate predecessors catapulted him to the leadership of his country in 2004 at the tender age of 31. He has carved out his own path since then, becoming, in the face of opposition hostility and Caribbean skepticism, the first English-speaking member of ALBA and deriving significant economic benefits from it. Significantly, a recent report of the Economist Intelligence Unit stated that Dominica was the only Caribbean country with positive growth in 2009. It is left to be seen how the Dominican electorate will judge his stewardship.

Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.