Dominicans told to prepare for major protest

Residents in Dominica have been put on early notice that soon they will be called to protest in the streets to demand electoral reform and to let the Roosevelt Skerrit government know that they want fresh general elections.

The United Workers Party told those who gathered at a UWP rally in Salisbury last night that these protests will be held in the not-so-distant future.

The UWP; Dominica’s main Opposition boycotted the general elections, saying that voting without electoral reform and a clean voters list was illegal.

Thompson Fountain, the UWP’s newly elected political leader justified the party’s decision to stay away from the polls.

“Given the Prime Minister’s behavior, we must be prepared to fight and fight hard for electoral reform. There may come a time in the not-too-distant future when we will have to call upon you to take to the streets in mass protests. There may come a time in the not-too-distant future if we do not get electoral reform that to take it, we will have to take to the streets. We in the leadership of the party, are prepared to lead that fight, but you must be prepared to join in,” he said.

“This fight ladies and gentlemen has to do with our survival as a democratic country and that of our party,” he added.

He told listeners that the UWP had evidence since 2019 of a bloated electoral list and the government did nothing to effectively address it.

“We had the evidence, we had the list of persons who came down illegally, we had the list of dead persons voting. In most countries the conduct of the 2019 election, any court worth its salt would have overturned those results, but not so in Dominica and you expect us to keep on fighting a losing battle. Hell no, we will not. The Electoral Office failed us, the High Court failed us, the Appeals Court failed us and you are asking us to go back to this, as my friend would say…no way. But let me remind you Dominica that our cause is just, our fight is the right one and we shall overcome,” Fontaine said.