Roseau, Dominica: Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica- Dr Roosevelt Skerrit, expressed his firm commitment to advance the process towards electoral modernization in the country.
PM Roosevelt Skerrit reiterated his commitment during the First Meeting of the First Session of the Eleventh Parliament on Tuesday. He stated,”
I’ll say to the Parliament and to the people of Dominica that this is a matter that I wish to put to rest once and for all in our country. And I wish to come to the Parliament to seek parliamentary approval of the new legislation by April of this year so that the process of implementation can begin immediately thereafter.”
PM Roosevelt Skerrit hosted the meeting with Dennis Byron three times since the former President of the Caribbean Court of Justice gave his report on electoral modernization in December. In order to review the electoral process of Dominica, Dennis was appointed as the sole commissioner in 2020.
PM Skerrit stated that he also engaged with the services of a legal expert to draft the legislation, which will form part of the submission on electoral reform; and looked forward to the final report from Sir Dennis Byron ahead of the convening of stakeholder consultations.
“Consultation with any politician or any group of politicians is not the final point of consultation. The people of Dominica must be consulted on this very important matter of their right to vote in Dominica if they so choose to register and to vote in Dominica’s elections.
“So I want to make it very clear that we shall continue to engage on this matter of electoral reform, with the highest standards of transparency,” he stated.
The Prime Minister urged citizens to approach the matter in a “serious, mature, transparent manner” and refrain from giving a negative impression of the process to the international community.
