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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 latest Leader of the Opposition is Jesma Paul, an independent candidate of the Salisbury constituency, who was sworn in on December 20 2022. She resigned on 20 June 2024. [1]
Chapter IV Section 66 of The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Dominica states:
1. There shall be a Leader of the Opposition who shall be appointed by the President.
2. Whenever there is occasion for the appointment of a Leader of the Opposition the President shall appoint the elected member of the House who appears to him most likely to command the support of a majority of the elected members of the House who do not support the Government: or, if no elected member of the House appears to him to command such support, the elected member of the House who appears to him to command the support of the largest single group of members of the House who do not support the Government:
Provided that if a member of the House was elected at a general election in which he stood as a supporter of a political party and the majority of members of the House elected at that time (whether as Representatives or Senators) stood as supporters of that party, he shall, so long as he remains a member of the House by virtue of that election, not be eligible for appointment as Leader of the Opposition.
The House of Assembly did not have a Leader of the Opposition in early 2010, following the results of the 2009 general election. The leader of the opposition United Workers' Party, Ronald Green, lost his seat, and the three UWP Representatives elected boycotted the House of Assembly. [2] This ended with the swearing in of Hector John as Leader of the Opposition on 19 July 2010.
| Name | Party | Took office | Left office | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Moise | DUPP | 1966 | 1970 | [3] |
| Anthony Moise | DFP | 1970 | April 1975 [4] | |
| Eugenia Charles | DFP | April 1975 [4] | July 1979 [4] | |
| Vacant | 1979 | January 1985 | [5] [6] | |
| Matthew Joseph | DDLP | January 1985 | 1985 [7] | |
| Michael Douglas | DLP | 1985 | 1990 | [8] |
| Edison James | UWP | 1 June 1990 | 14 June 1995 | |
| Brian Alleyne | DFP | 1995 | 1996 | |
| Rosie Douglas | DLP | 1996 | 3 February 2000 | |
| Edison James | UWP | 3 February 2000 | 16 July 2007 | |
| Earl Williams | UWP | 16 July 2007 | 30 July 2008 | |
| Ronald Green | UWP | 8 August 2008 | 3 February 2010 | |
| Hector John | UWP | 19 July 2010 | 8 December 2014 | |
| Lennox Linton | UWP | 8 December 2014 | 7 November 2022 | |
| Jesma Paul-Victor | Independent | 20 December 2022 | 20 June 2024 [1] | |
| Vacant | 20 June 2024 [1] | |||
The first written records in the history of Dominica began in November 1493, when Christopher Columbus spotted the island. Prior to European contact, Dominica was inhabited by the Arawak. Dominica was a French colony from 1715 until the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, and then became a British colony from 1763 to 1978. It became an independent nation in 1978.
The politics of Dominica takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Dominica is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the House of Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Edward Oliver LeBlanc was a Dominican politician who served as the chief minister from January 1961 to 1 March 1967 and as the first premier from 1 March 1967 to 27 July 1974. Born in Vieille Case, a village in the north of the island, LeBlanc attended the local school and studied agriculture at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad. He worked in the civil service and became a member of the Dominica Trade Union. An early member of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP), he served as a representative in the country's Legislative Council representing the constituency of Portsmouth between 1957 and 1958, and as a representative of Dominica in the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation upon its foundation in 1958. LeBlanc left the federation in 1960 to run for election to the national legislature.
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 2022 general election, the party is not represented in the House of Assembly of Dominica, after boycotting the general election. The past Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly is Lennox Linton.
Oliver James "O. J." Seraphin is a former Dominican politician. He served as the Minister of communication and works and housing for the Labour Party government from 1975–1979 and acting Prime Minister of Dominica from 25 June 1979 until 21 July 1980.
Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. 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.
Michael Douglas was a politician from Dominica. He served as Member of Parliament for the Portsmouth constituency since 1975 and as well as a cabinet minister for a number of years, including as Minister of Finance from 1979 to 1980 and also Deputy Prime Minister.
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.
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.
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.
Norris Prevost is a Dominican politician in the United Workers' Party. He has served in the House of Assembly of Dominica since 1990.
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.
Sir Louis Cools-Lartigue, OBE was a Dominican politician.
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.
Lennox Irving Linton is a Dominican politician in the United Workers' Party (UWP). He was first elected as the Representative for the Marigot constituency in the House of Assembly of Dominica on 8 December 2014. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 22 December 2014 until the 6 December 2022 snap general election and as Leader of UWP from 1 September 2013 until his resignation on 3 October 2022. He currently serves as President of the United Worker’s Party. He is a former journalist, radio presenter, party leader and corporate executive.
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.
Snap general elections were held in Dominica on 6 December 2022. Boycotted by the opposition United Workers' Party (UWP) and Dominica Freedom Party (DFP), the ruling Dominica Labour Party led by Roosevelt Skerrit, who had been prime minister since 2004, retained its supermajority in the House of Assembly by winning 19 of the 21 elected seats. Turnout was low at only 32%, the first time in Dominican history that less than half of eligible voters participated in a general election.
Anthony Moise was a Dominican politician and cabinet minister from Dominica Freedom Party.
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