Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of Dominica, has promised to move the election modernization process towards progress. Since the former head of the Caribbean Court of Justice delivered his report on electoral modernization in December, he conducted three consultations with Dennis Byron.
In 2020, Dennis was the only appointed commissioner to examine Dominica’s voting system.
During the opening session of the 11th parliament on Sunday, PM Skerrit declared, “I’ll announce to the house and Dominican population that it’s a matter I wanted to end once and for all.
The Dominican Prime Minister further revealed that he wanted to visit the Parliament by April of this year to request parliamentary approval of the new legislation so that the implementation process could begin as soon as possible.
In addition, Minister Skerrit stated that he had engaged a legal professional to develop the laws that will be included in the submission on electoral reform and that he was eagerly awaiting the conclusion of Sir Dennis Byron’s report before holding stakeholder engagements.
He noted, “Every Dominican individual must be consulted on this very important topic of their right to vote in Dominica if they choose to register and vote in Dominica’s elections. I wanted to make it clear that we will continue to work on election reform while maintaining the highest levels of transparency.
The Prime Minister asked people to tackle the situation in a “serious, mature, transparent manner” and to avoid demonstrating a negative picture for the rest of the world.
Minister Skerrit clarified that to those who don’t want it to happen, that “Dominica will definitely undergo electoral modernization despite their efforts against the move.
The Dominican PM expressed that most people in the country claim to desire it but do not maintain the false impression that this government opposes electoral modernization, “so saying to all that I want it and I want it now!”
