After UWP Loses it’s CCJ Petition, Linton Says Dominicans Won in Other Respects

Barbara 8th July, 2022

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Following the loss of their election petition at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the UWP said the loss translated to victory for the people of Dominica. Opposition Leader Lennox Linton said that in dismissing their application, the CCJ acknowledged that the general elections that brought the current DLP administration to power were tainted.

Linton quoted the CCJ as saying that the process of the 2019 elections was tainted and that such taints must not be allowed in future Dominica elections. He said the apex regional court agreed that there were irregularities in the last election and that the opposition had a case in contesting the victories claimed in 10 constituencies. He said this means that without necessary electoral reforms, future elections may not hold in Dominica.

So the petitioners lost; but you know what, the people won. The people whose electoral process has been tainted, and whose elections have been stolen with illegalities and irregularities over the past two decades, won a major victory in this very same defeat of the 2019 election petitions indeed.
Hon. Lennox Linton, Opposition Leader

In giving relevance to their loss and the basis of the CCJ ruling in striking out their petition, Linton said the apex court avers that “future elections in Dominica are not to proceed with these similar taints.” He emphasized that the opposition will not allow future elections in the country until the electoral reforms promised by the ruling party are implemented across the board. One of the lawyers that represented the UWP at the CCJ, Zahidha James, said the takeaway from the CCJ ruling is that “they [the judges] referred to our elections as tainted, and they made that unequivocal statement. In my opinion, this suggests that we, in Dominica, have an illegitimate government governing us at this moment in time.” She added the UWP lost the case on account of a technicality in the nation’s constitution.