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Opposition in Dominica to challenge outcome of general elections

Published:Friday | December 13, 2019 | 10:16 AM
Leader of the United Workers Party in Dominica, Lennox Linton - CMC photo

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – The main opposition United Workers Party, which was swept aside in last Friday’s general election by the ruling Dominica Labour Party, has announced its intention to challenge the outcome of the results in the High Court.

Party leader, Lennox Linton, said the political organisation will also be going to the International Court of Justice, arguing that it condemned the use of teargas by law enforcement authorities to clear the main road that had been blocked by protesters in the western village of Salisbury on the eve of the general election.

Linton was one of three party members to win seats in the elections that the labour party won by an 18-3 margin.

Addressing a rally on Thursday night, Linton said lawyers have already been engaged in putting together the party’s position to be used to challenge the results of the elections that four regional and international election observer teams including the Organization of American States and the Commonwealth said reflected the will of the people and had been free and fair.

“We are going to court with this matter. We have not had much success in the courts over the years but that is neither here nor there. It is a tool that we have that we will continue to use because our contention is that things went wrong and those things that went wrong must be set right,” Linton told supporters.

“The protest is very simple, electoral reform and fresh elections,” he said, insisting that the three seats won by his party were free and fair.

He said the candidates would take their seats in the 21-member Parliament when it convenes.

“And so we don’t recognise the government of Dominica, but we contested the elections within the requirements of the Constitution of the laws of Dominica and those of us who were returned successfully will exercise the option of taking our seats in the Parliament of Dominica because we not going to stay out of the Parliament of Dominica which is why we need electoral reform and fresh elections so we have legitimate members of the Parliament on both sides.

“So we are going to Parliament and we are hoping that our protest and our fight will continue on all fronts and one of the fronts will be the Parliament of Dominica,” he added.

The workers party had been calling for electoral reform including the use of identification cards and the cleansing of the electoral list prior to the election.

Party activists had failed in their attempt to postpone the elections to February 5 next year after the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling that it had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

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