Julius Corbette in Major Rift with Tahira Blanchard Resigns as APP’s President

Julius Corbette has resigned as the president of the Alternative People’s Party (APP). Corbette said he resigned from the newest political party in Dominica because of the party’s decision to contest the December 6 snap general elections without ratification. He is blaming his resignation on Tahira Blanchard, the APP’s acting political leader.

According to Corbette, he discussed with Blanchard after PM Roosevelt Skerrit announced the snap election and they both agreed that APP would not participate in the voting process. He said the APP leadership also agreed to watch events unfold before releasing a public statement on how to proceed with the political situation.

But he was caught off-guard when Blanchard went ahead to release an APP statement – without his knowledge and approval – condemning Skerrit for the snap election and also calling on all Dominicans to participate in the process. He noted with remarkable disdain that he was surprised that Blanchard put the APP forward to contest the elections when they had agreed that the party would boycott the process – just like the UWP.

Ms Blanchard’s message and my statement are incongruous and send confusing messages to the citizens of Dominica who deserve better of us. Consequently, I am announcing today that I am resigning as president of the APP effective immediately. I cannot be in a position where I am working with someone who is doing things behind my back.

Julius Corbette

The erstwhile president of the APP said he and the party leadership agreed to boycott the snap elections because of the “the absence of electoral reform, the prime minister’s gross disrespect  for the citizens of Dominica, his abuse of political  power and authority as well as the PM’s non-democratic style of government.”

In the public statement that Corbette found offensive, Blanchard criticized Skerrit for calling for a snap election two years before its due date, but noted that it would be a greater disservice to Dominicans to not stand up against the DLP at the polling booths.

There can be absolutely no justification or reasoning for calling such elections in the national interest, but clearly to advance his [Skerrit’s] own personal and selfish political agenda. It would be prudent for the opposition and patriotic Dominicans who are able to, to offer themselves to the electorate in this general election…to save it from the tyranny of an impending dictatorship…

Tahira Blanchard, Alternative People’s Party Acting Political Leader

While Corbette described Blanchard as incapable of being a good team player, he is not the first executive to resign from the APP in its three-year existence. Co-founder and political strategist Alex Bruno resigned last year, followed by the exit of the Interim Finances and Secretariat Director, Kendra Stephen, 2nd deputy political leader Whitney Mélinard, and executive member Sherlyn Sabaroche.

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