Opposition say They are Ready to Take on Skerrit and the DLP

Opposition parties say they are not surprised by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s announcement of a snap election and are in fact ready to take on the Dominica Labour Party in the upcoming mid-December polls.

In an address to the nation on Thursday night, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit declared Friday 16th December as Elections Day.

“In accordance with the powers vested in me as Prime Minister of this country, under Section 54 of the Constitution of Dominica, I have today, Thursday, 19th November, 2009, instructed His Excellency, the President of Dominica, to dissolve the Parliament of Dominica, with immediate effect, and to issue a writ for the calling of general elections.

Fellow Dominicans, at home and abroad…Nomination Day in Dominica will be Wednesday, the 2nd day of December, 2009! …Friday, the 18th of December 2009 is General Elections Day in December” he said.

Reaction from the opposition parties on island was swift. “The United Workers Party (UWP) is ready to take Dominica forward. We are ready…The time has come and we have been preparing for it f for a number of months and we are ready” said Ron Green, Leader of the Opposition. He however described Skerrit’s decision as “a rush to hide the many sins of a corrupt government; one that has failed to deliver on jobs, and failed to provide any sustainable economic opportunity.”

Judith Pestaina, Leader of the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) expressed similar sentiments. “Of course we are ready” she said. “That’s why we gave him the ultimatum…I didn’t expect anything different”.

Notwithstanding the oppositions’ claim, most seem a little flatfooted especially in two key areas. To date, only the incumbent DLP has fielded or will field a full slate of candidates to contest the 2008 polls. The UWP has named fifteen candidates and is still in the hunt for five. Green however was hopeful that the party would be “contesting close to twenty-one (21)” if not “all the twenty-one (21) seats in the election.” Pestaina, at a recent press conference, was rather reluctant to disclose the candidates running on the DFP ticket. She however promised to do so in the coming days.

Other parties have not yet declared their hands or officially launched any of their candidates.

Another clear challenge for the opposition parties is their inability to match budgets with the DLP. None of the parties have publicly discussed the issue of campaign financing, but are expected to spend millions of dollars on the election campaign. Lennox Linton has been presenting documentary evidence from the DLP’s own archives that show the party will spend over US$8.33 million (EC$22 million) on its re-election bid. Some US$1.2 million of that is earmarked for the “mobilization of and air transportation for approximately 600 overseas voters, whose participation is vital to our success from such countries as USA, Canada, Great Britain, US and British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Venezuela, Barbados, Trinidad and Eastern Caribbean Islands” to come and vote in the December polls. Another US$2.3 million will be spent on the “design, production, purchase and shipment of campaign paraphernalia, including T-Shirts, billboards, posters, brochures, caps, hats, noise makers, manifestoes, stage management, lighting, pyrotechnics and other advertising and promotional aides”

Although Dominica does not have campaign funding legislation, the hefty price tag raises questions about the legitimacy and sources of the funds and the kind of influence special interest groups might be having on the election outcome and governance of the country. The situation has prompted certain persons in opposition and the public at large to speculate that China and Venezuela (among other well placed friends of the Prime Minister) might be bankrolling the party’s election campaign.

However, question marks also hover over the UWP’s campaign budget. They too are expected to spend millions. Prime Minister Skerrit has repeatedly accused party leaders and officials of travelling to St.Kitts to hold secrete meetings with the Taiwanese Ambassador, a charge they’ve not flatly denied. Skerrit again hinted at that in his address to the nation on last Thursday when he announced a snap general election for Friday 18th December 2009.

“There is nothing secret about the so-called secret trips that leaders of political parties in Dominica have been making to Basseterre, St. Kitts and even to St. John’s Antigua as
recent as last weekend” he said.

Financially, the other political parties, including the once mighty DFP, are struggling. This may very well explain why they are finding it difficult to field candidates to contest all twenty-one constituencies.

Notwithstanding these challenges, the parties say they are ready to take on the DLP and are promising their supporters victory at the polls.