Sir Dennis Byron has informed Lennox Linton that the long-awaited electoral reform report will be ready by the end of this month. The sole administrator of the new Dominica electoral reform project stated that his report will be ready in two phases. The first phase will be ready in November and it will be enacted into law in January 2023, and the second phase will be available in February 2023 and enacted into law in March 2023.
I will present Phase I report during the month of November 2022. Parliament tables the Register of Elector’s legislation in December 2022 with the plan to enact it in January 2023, so that the Register of Electors could be compiled in accordance with the recommendations during that calendar year. I will present Phase II of the Report, after a consultation process similar to that undertaken for Phase I in February/ March 2023. Parliament tables and enacts the Phase II legislation in March/ April 2023.
Sir Dennis Byron
In a letter dated November 6, 2022, and addressed to the former leader of the UWP, Byron told Linton that the need for extensive consultations, the COVID-19 pandemic, and numerous edits to drafts of the report created unexpected delays in completing the report on time. He had earlier written to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Duncan Stowe, that he is almost done with the Phase 1 which covers the registration of voters while Phase 2 focuses on the election process.
The former President of the Caribbean Court of Justice and former Chief Justice of the OECS Supreme Court assured Dominicans that he is expediting the completion of the electoral reform reports with a view to having them reviewed by the relevant authorities before enacting them into law.
Merely amending the existing laws would not satisfy the goals of the reform exercise: new legislation is needed to modernise the electoral system and to bring it in line with international best practices
Sir Dennis Byron
Byron stated, adding that the report his engagement “carries the expectation of bridging the sharp divisions of opinion that have handicapped the completion of this reform exercise.”
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