President Charles Savarin has sworn in Jesma Paul as the opposition leader in parliament. Paul won the Salisbury Constituency as an independent candidate in the December 6 snap elections. She defeated Lynsa Frank of the DLP with 617 to 463 votes. She took her oath of office at the Office of the President on Tuesday.
Subsequent upon her swearing in, Paul said she will share the role of parliamentary opposition leader with fellow independent candidate for the Marigot Constituency, Anthony Charles. Charles defeated DLP’s Gregory Riviere by 491 to 329 votes. Paul will be serving as opposition leader with Charles in a power-sharing arrangement that will last for 18 months each.
Paul will serve for 18 months and Charles will serve another 18 months as opposition leader. The new opposition leader revealed that she will begin to immerse herself in the Dominican Constitution to understand the rules and regulations of the House of Assembly. While thanking everyone who voted to make her win the election, she expressed regrets that her mother who died of cancer earlier this year was not around to witness her electoral victory and swearing-in.
According to the constitution, both Paul and Charles are eligible to appoint opposition senators to serve with them in parliament. Former DLP Press Secretary, Sean Douglas, was reported to have been contacted by either Paul or Charles to serve as opposition senator. Douglas served under PM Roosevelt Skerrit for 9 years before being sacked via a letter signed by former Cabinet Secretary Felix Gregoire in 2010. Douglas is fiery critic of the Skerrit administration.
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