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Dominica voters list exceeds country’s population

Polls are scheduled for December 8, 2014.

Roseau, Dominica (TDN) When Dominicans go to the polls on December 8, 2014 they will be faced with a voters list that is bigger than the country’s population. The final list is expected to show in excess of 71,000 voters greater than the country’s population of some 69 000.

Thanks to an Electoral Commission headed by attorney Gerald Burton the country will become the first one in the world to show more persons registered to vote than people residing in the country. A serious contradiction when one considers that only those 18 and over can register to vote.

Further, Dominica’s laws are clear. Persons should only be allowed to vote if they have resided in the country for some period during the five years preceding elections. It also allows for the removal of names of persons who are dead and those residing outside of Dominica for more than five years preceding elections. However, with a government friendly commission unwilling to clean up the voters list the country is poised to witness massive election fraud.

Already, the government of Dominica under Roosevelt Skerrit desperate to hang on to power have issued hundreds of tickets to persons not eligible to vote, but who will claim this right because the electoral office has conspired with the Skerrit regime to keep the list bloated to allow just this type of shenanigan.

Dominicans are crying foul given the fact that the Electoral Commission had ample time to clean up the voters list and to issue ID cards for voting. Earlier this year Antigua with a much larger population than Dominica was able to clean up its voters list and reregister voters within just three months.

To compound matters, the Commission has flatly refused to invite foreign electoral observers and denied an opposition United Workers Party request to invite the Carter Foundation to oversee the conduct of elections.

This blatant attempt by a government bent on staying in office at all costs has set the stage for a possible showdown between those convinced of change and those wanting to cling on to power even though the majority of Dominicans residing in that country desire regime change.

And so voters residing overseas many of whom do not qualify under the country’s laws to vote are being bribed by the Skerrit regime with ticket offers and $1 000 in spending money to be whisked in and out of Dominica to impose a regime that many in Dominica do not want .

This glaring travesty aided and abetted by the likes of Gerard Burton and Alick Lawrence of the Electoral Commission is a dark stain on the people of Dominica. After 15 years in office a government that has lost the confidence of a majority of people in the country is now bent on dirty tricks and illegal means to hang on to the power.

This scenario makes for an intriguing election with many in Dominica vowing to do what is necessary to safeguard the integrity of the election process.