Electoral Reform in Dominica and What it means for Voters
- varietynewsgroup
- Jul 10
- 4 min read
By Christine St. Marie
Attorney-at-Law/Certified Mediator/Journalist
So! We’ve made some headway in terms of Electoral Reform in Dominica by virtue of the approval by Parliament of three Bills namely The Registration of Electors Bills, The House of Assembly (Electors) Bill and the Electoral Commission Bill on 19th March 2025.
In essence, those Bills allow for a more structured, regularized and accountable manner in which elections are conducted in Dominica. The House of Assembly (Elections) Act 2025 outlines the function of the Chief Elections Officer and governs the election procedure while the Electoral Commission Act, 2025 provides for the operation of the Election Commission.
It outlines the objective and functions of the Commission. Noteworthy is Section 5(2) (g) which states that the Commission is to “enforce the code of conduct provided in this Act”. The Code of Conduct is found under the Third Schedule of the Act.
What I consider a great initiative is the provision made for Persons with Disabilities and
Special Needs under Section 5(2) (i). It stipulates the Commission shall: “take reasonable steps to ensure that people with disabilities and persons with
special needs or requiring special assistance are enabled to vote without any
hindrance”.
The most interesting of the pieces of legislation, the Registration of Electors Act, 2025,
provides for the Registration and Deregistration of Voters. Section 7 speaks to the Eligibility for registration, while Section 8 provides for the Disqualification for registration. Section 12 caters for the Right to remain on the register, Section 21-Claims and objections, Section 25-Request for deregistration and the Act even provides a list of “Corrupt and illegal practices” under Section 28.
As we all know, a major change under the Electoral Reform legislation is the Mandatory Voter Identification (ID) whereby all voters will possess a Government-issued ID and there will be a “cleansing” of the Voter’s List whereby all deceased person will be removed from the said list.
This brings us to one of the contentious issues surrounding Electoral Reform in Dominica- overseas “voters”. The law does not restrict Dominicans living outside the jurisdiction from voting. It only provides for the removal of Deceased persons from the voters list under Section 39 of the Registration of Electors Act.
Section 39 (1) (d) provides: “The Chief Registering Officer may make alterations to the register of electors or a list in order to .... (d) delete the name of a person who is dead;”
The question therefore remains, “what then shall be done about Dominicans overseas who flood the country during elections to exercise “their right” to vote”? Should they be restricted? Or should the status quo remain? The Opposition, the United Workers Party (UWP) had expressed concern regarding the said Bills, more particularly, the Registration of Electors Bill as well as the fact that the pieces of legislation are devoid of any clauses regarding campaign financing, another bone of contention.
To that Prime Minister of Dominica, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit has stated that he would not mind incorporating campaign financing laws however he is of the view that it would delay the electoral process as it is a “highly technical piece of legislation”.
Speaking on Grenada-based talk programme, The Narrative on 29th March 2025 the Prime Minister stated, “At no time during the entire discussion on Electoral Reform, the issue of Campaign Financing was on the agenda; when Sir Dennis made his report, he recommended that we should look at the issue of Campaign Finance...we have said, and I have said on behalf of the Government that from an aspirational standpoint, yes, we can and could give consideration to Campaign Financing but that is a highly technical piece of legislation, which would unduly delay the implementation of other far-reaching, positive movements towards the modernization of the electoral process.”
The Prime Minister added that he has raised the issue at the Caricom level and “there was a suggestion among colleagues that we may want to look at this from regional perspective because there is no OECS country that has campaign financing legislation”.
Meanwhile Barbados and Jamaica has made some strides in their electoral reform progress with Barbados reviewing its political/electoral system and launching a 300-page Constitutional Reform Commission (CRC) report presented on 30th September 2024. This, however, has been met with criticism from the likes of Law Lecturer and former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) leader Dr Ronnie Yearwood who lambasted the report stating that it completely ignored the calls for change.
He said “What was the point of the CRC? Because if you’re going to come back with an entire report where [the response to] every major issue is, ‘Oh, we think it should stay the same,’ then why did you even bother?”
Dr. Yearwood highlighted the absence of proposals for term limits for prime ministers and fixed dates for elections, the lack of lawsuit protection for the auditor general and the omission of overseas voting provisions.
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Since 2016, Jamaica passed it Campaign Financing legislation. The Election Campaign
Financing Act, 2016 and its accompanying regulations provide the regulatory framework for effectively monitoring and assessing political party funding and election campaign financing in Jamaica.
Even so, some have been critical of the pieces of legislation citing “loopholes”
In an article dubbed “NIA: Jamaica deserves a stronger political finance law”, published
by the Jamaican Gleaner on 17th February 2025, the National Integrity Action (NIA) urged the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) to “take the necessary steps through their representatives on the Electoral Commission of Jamaica to plug loopholes in the country’s electoral laws”.
According to the article, Principal Director of NIA Danielle Archer says “Jamaica deserves a stronger political finance law that promotes full transparency, holds political parties accountable for their financial practices, encourages fair competition and, most importantly, prevents the misuse of public funds”.
Archer added that the current legislation places limits on donations received during the
‘Reporting Period’, which begins in the last six months of a five-year term or the day the election date is officially announced by the prime minister, whichever is earlier, and
continues for six months after the election.
Outside of this window, she said, there is no requirement to report funds used for election activity or donations to any political party. She noted that political parties have consistently exploited this loophole.
stronger-political-finance-law
The question remains, campaign financing law or no campaign financial law? We shall see...
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