A by-election was held on 9 July 2010 in Dominica, to fill two seats in the House of Assembly that were declared vacant. The contested seats were both won by significant margins by the incumbent candidates, who were members of the opposition United Workers' Party.
Following the results of the 2009 general election conducted on 18 December 2009, the Dominica Labour Party won 18 of the 21 seats in the House of Assembly, with the United Workers' Party in the remaining three. Alleging election irregularities, the UWP members boycotted the Assembly. After two of the three UWP members, Edison James of Marigot and Hector John of Salisbury, did not attend three consecutive sessions of the Assembly, Speaker of the House Alix Boyd Knights declared their seats vacant, and a by-election was scheduled to fill the vacancies.
The UWP argued that the Speaker had no legal authority to declare the seats vacant and that the by-elections were unconstitutional. James and John nevertheless ran in the by-election to retain their former seats. The Labour Party fielded the same candidates that ran unsuccessfully in the 2009 general election, Bentley Royer in Salisbury and Dayton Baptiste in Marigot. Both Royer and Baptiste had been appointed as senators in the interim and resigned these positions to run in the by-election. No candidates from other parties participated in the by-election.
Both James and John won the by-election by even greater margins than in the general election, leaving no change in the distribution of seats in the Assembly. John subsequently became the Leader of the Opposition.
Marigot | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
---|---|---|---|---|
Edison Chenfil James | UWP | 669 | 83.8 | |
Dayton Baptiste | DLP | 131 | 16.4 | |
Salisbury | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
Hector "Spags" John | UWP | 772 | 64.4 | |
Julien B. "Tolo" Royer | DLP | 415 | 34.6 |
Earl Michael Williams is a Dominican politician who was Leader of the Opposition in Dominica and political Leader of the United Workers' Party from 2007 to 2008.
The United Workers' Party is a centrist political party in Dominica. As of the 2019 general election, it is the only opposition party represented in the House of Assembly of Dominica, holding three of the twenty-one seats. Its past Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly is Hector John.
Edison Chenfil James is a Dominican politician who was the prime minister of Dominica from June 14, 1995, to February 3, 2000, as well as the member of parliament for the Marigot constituency from 1990. He graduated from the Dominica Grammar School. He has a BSc degree in botany from the University of East London, a MSc degree in biochemistry from the University of Reading and a post graduate diploma in crop protection technology from Imperial College. He worked in a number of local and regional institutions including the Caribbean Development Bank, but it was as manager of the Dominica Banana Marketing Company that he rose to prominence on the island. He was instrumental in resuscitating the island's critical banana industry which had been decimated by Hurricane David. James has been active in regional cricket as an administrator and was the manager of the Windward Islands cricket team and the Combined Islands cricket team. He is a member of the Rotary Club.
Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically situated as part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. Dominica's closest neighbours are two constituent territories of the European Union, the overseas departments of France, Guadeloupe to the northwest and Martinique to the south-southeast. Dominica comprises a land area of 750 km2 (290 sq mi), and the highest point is Morne Diablotins, at 1,447 m (4,747 ft) in elevation. The population was 71,293 at the 2011 census.
The Leader of the Opposition of the Commonwealth of Dominica is the Member of Parliament who leads the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly of Dominica. The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the House of Assembly that is not in government.
Ronald Milner Green is a Dominican politician who has served as the head of the United Workers' Party (UWP). In that capacity, Green was also the Leader of the Opposition of Dominica from 2005 until 2009, when he lost his seat in the House of Assembly in the general election. Green is now serving in the Assembly as an appointed senator.
Julien Bentley Royer is a Dominican politician in the Dominica Labour Party and a former schoolteacher. He served briefly as a senator in the Dominica House of Assembly in 2010, and has twice been an unsuccessful candidate for an elected seat.
Hector John is a Dominican politician in the United Workers' Party (UWP). He was the Leader of the Opposition, from 2010 to 2014 and was the youngest ever to hold that position. He was first elected as a Representative to the House of Assembly in 2009.
Dayton Baptiste is a Dominican politician in the Dominica Labour Party, and a former police officer in Antigua. He served briefly as an appointed senator in the Dominica House of Assembly in 2010, and has twice been an unsuccessful candidate for an elected seat.
Norris Prevost is a Dominican politician in the United Workers' Party. He has served in the House of Assembly of Dominica since 1990.
Ronald Isidore is a Dominican politician in the United Workers' Party. He has served in the House of Assembly of Dominica since 2010.
Claudius Sanford is a Dominican politician in the United Workers' Party. He served in the House of Assembly of Dominica as an Opposition Senator from 2005 to 2009, and from August 2010 to October 2011.
Ezekiel Bazil is a Dominican politician who has served in the House of Assembly of Dominica since 2010. He is the current president of the United Workers' Party.
Daniel Lugay is a Dominican politician in the United Workers' Party. He currently serves in the House of Assembly of Dominica as an Opposition Senator.
General elections were held in Dominica on 8 December 2014 to elect the 21 members of the House of Assembly. Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced the election date on 5 November 2014 and Nomination Day was held on 19 November. Under Dominica's electoral system, the Prime Minister has the authority to call elections at any time and is only required to give a minimum of twenty-five days' notice.
Doreen Paul was a Dominican banker who served in politics from 1990 to 2000. She was particularly involved, as the Minister of Health and Social Security, in the development of infrastructure improvement projects including health centers, sports complexes, roads and water systems.
General elections were held in Dominica on 6 December 2019. The elections were constitutionally due by March 2020, but had been widely expected to take place before the end of 2019. The result was a landslide victory for the ruling Dominica Labour Party, which won 18 of the 21 elected seats, gaining three seats. With the DLP winning a fifth consecutive election, DLP leader Roosevelt Skerrit remained Prime Minister.
General elections were held in Saint Lucia on 26 July 2021, having been constitutionally required by 12 October 2021. Voters elected all 17 members of the House of Assembly. The result was a victory for the opposition Saint Lucia Labour Party, which won 13 of the 17 seats in the House, while the ruling United Workers Party lost nine of its eleven seats. It was the fourth consecutive election in which the incumbent government lost.
Snap general elections are scheduled to be held in Dominica on 6 December 2022.