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Opposition wants electoral reform
by Daily Nation
Posted: Mar 18, 2009 14:33 UTC
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ROSEAU, Dominica - Opposition supporters demonstrated yesterday in Dominica's capital to demand electoral reform in the sparsely populated Caribbean country, where voter rolls have nearly as many names as there are inhabitants.
"We want a clean voter list," a few dozen United Workers' Party protesters chanted outside the law offices of the Electoral Commission chairman.
"In another section of Roseau, another dozen people with the Dominica Freedom Party held placards accusing the government of manipulating voter registrations in a bid to dominate elections.
"We cannot go into elections in Dominica without putting in place what is needed for free and fair elections," said Ron Green, a leader of the main opposition United Workers' Party.
At least a quarter of the population in the lush Caribbean country is under the voting age of 18. But the 2005 registration list shows 65,889 voters out of a population of roughly 70 000.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit's government has resisted calls for new voter lists, preferring to keep the records used in the 2005 vote for the next legislative elections, which must be called by October 2010.
Voter rolls
About 41 000 people voted in 2005 elections that gave Skerrit's Labour Party a second consecutive term in power.
Leaders of the United Workers' Party challenged the outcome in some areas, saying voter rolls were not purged annually as required by law.
Election chief Gerald Burton said his office had advised the government to update rolls and introduce voter identification cards. Skerrit, however, recently told Parliament he had received no new recommendations from the electoral commission.
Skerrit's administration has also accused opposition leaders of attempting to create new voter lists that would favour their candidates. (AP)
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