The Dominica Labour Party organized a launch event for the candidate of Wesley Constituency, Fidel Grant. The launch event was attended by the leader of the DLP, Roosevelt Skerrit. He addressed the attendants of the launch event, outlining various ways the government and his political party could evolve the electoral processes in Dominica.
During his address, the leader of the Dominica Labour Party assured the people in attendance at the launch event that his political party is committed to reviewing current electoral practices. The majority view of the various stakeholders will further guide the party.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit informed the people that he met with the officials of the various observer teams on the ground in the country over the weekend. He announced to the officials that as soon as the report from the sole Commissioner is submitted, Skerrit will share it with them and enlist their comments. Afterwards, he will prepare a final draft submission to the Parliament.
He has reiterated the Political Party’s commitment to pursuing and effecting needed changes to the electoral processes in Dominica. He reasoned that the people of Dominica and the political leaders are at the forefront of such changes.
PM Skerrit also said that while the opposition uses fancy words and pretty terms such as electoral reforms, the DLP prefers to call it a modernisation process.
Following this, he listed the various ways the political party seeks to “modernize the election process.”
The National Identification Card initiative, according to Skerrit, is a given. He said, “All the nations in the Caribbean are moving in this direction. Some nations are more advanced than others. He said that in this regard, Dominica is certainly not at the back of the line.”
He explained, “We shall introduce the National Identification Cards. In Future, the people of Dominica will use these cards not only for voting but for almost every public purpose which currently requires any form of personal identification on the island.”
He noted that All of Dominica are united on the necessity for this, and we shall implement it efficiently.
Following this, he talked about the national data collection and management service. He said that once all the involved stakeholders are on the same page regarding the service, it will have to be employed.
Skerrit explained that creating that data management service will involve a national population census and voter enumeration exercise. This exercise includes but is not limited to, the creation of new lists of eligible voters in Dominica.
Roosevelt Skerrit noted that the nation is united for these initiatives. He added that the political leaders had discussed them for years. He assured the people that they are inching closer and closer each day to the coming onstream and into the reality of these needed modern changes.
The DLP Leader rubbished the notion of Dominica being divided down the centre on electoral process changes and added that the political party awaits the report of the sole Commission, the outcome and the input of the various stakeholders. He assured the people of Dominica that The reformation process would provide the information of resident and non-resident Dominicans.
In the address, he assured the people of the Wesley constituency that the political party should introduce any changes following the recommendations of the sole Commissioner and the informed opinion and advice from the Commonwealth, OAS, CARICOM, Carter Centre and all the other interest groups.
At the same time, he also talked about the various other issues of development affecting Dominica, including housing programmes, climate change and its consequences to the nation.
He urged the people of the Wesley constituency to vote for his political party and bring them back to the government so that they can together implement all the changes discussed by the DLP Leader.
