“PM was within his constitutional authority to call election,” says TUD’s Alex Bruno

Dominica: General Secretary of the youngest political movement of the Commonwealth of Dominica – Team Unity Dominica (TUD), Alex Bruno has recently announced that the political party will contest the upcoming general elections on December 6, 2022. Bruno has also asked the leaders to come and join TUD to strongly contest. While doing the same, he has also rubbished the United Workers Party (UWP) position on the snap elections.

These announcements have been made in the midst of the preparations for snap general elections in the Commonwealth of Dominica have started in full swing. It is believed that amid all the preparations and political instabilities, one political party – Team Unity Dominica (TUD), is emerging as one of the major front that is expected to give a challenge to the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) in the snap elections.

Sources suggested that due to a lack of leadership and internal disputes within the UWP, members are seeking a way out to contest elections.

As per internal reports from the UWP, three-member parliaments who won in the 2019 general elections have revolted against party’s decision to boycott the upcoming elections and have decided that they would come into the fray independently. However, it has also come to light that some of the candidature aspirants from the UWP are likely to join TUD to participate in the elections.

After the United Workers Party announced not to participate in the snap elections, it is expected that TUD might emerge as an opposition party. There are many political reasons which may contribute to the fact.

1) United Workers Party’s decision to back off: After Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit announced the snap general elections, UWP decided to back off instead of contesting. This decision of party leaders is not being praised by many party members, especially the ones who successfully won their respective constituencies in the 2019 elections. They rebelled and decided to contest as independent candidates and others are expected to join TUD, said reliable sources in the UWP leadership.

2) Downfall of United Workers’ Party: After Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit declared snap elections, and asked President Charles Savarin to dissolve the parliament, United Workers Party decided to quit. The political party has been counted as a weak political alliance; hence, the people of Dominica might turn towards TUD and choose it as the main opposition political party.

3) Internal dispute in UWP: According to various political experts, the leading cause of UWP’s back-off is internal disputes in the political party. It has been said that there is a major brawl between party members to become political leader of the UWP, resulting in internal rifts. The disagreements have vanished United Workers Party and have boosted the scope of the TUD.