Antigua Observer – Political Analyst Peter Wickham has advised regional governments against what he termed a common practice of spending millions on citizens outside the country as an incentive for them to return to vote in an election.
Wickham said ruling and opposition parties spend millions each election on charters and other means to get residents in the diaspora to participate in the electoral process, which is ill-advised.
“I think it is an expensive waste of money, and I also don’t like the fact that someone who is not a resident in the country is voting. But, at the same time, the people of the country have to decide how they want to approach it,” Wickham said.
He also pointed out that in countries like St Kitts and Nevis the law gives members of the diaspora the right to participate in an election.
The statement by the political analyst came ahead of today’s by-election to be held in Dominica.
Residents of that country have pleaded with their compatriots living in Antigua not to accept bribes as an incentive to participate in the process.
“Please tell Dominicans living in Antigua, please let the Dominican people decide their election. Dominicans living in Antigua should not accept treats to come down to vote in Dominica. A treat or gift in order to vote could be considered a bribe. We are fighting for the children. Accepting bribe is illegal,” a concerned Dominican wrote in an email to OBSERVER media.
there are two sides to a coin wickham,the outsiders or if that is the way you are considering them are the same ones who support their families in their home countries,they are land owners in their home countries,they pay land taxes in their home countries,so tell me don’t you think they have a right in deciding who runs their countries of birth and homeland,the monies spent for bringing them in I also have issue with that,but if they spend their own monies to come their homelands to vote,why is this a problem!!!
Pray, tell me who pays land taxes in Dominica??
TELL WICKHAM TO GO AND SUCK SALT. FOOL.
What none of you all realize is that the by-election was won by the DLP with 16 more votes and UWP got less votes from the last general election. Now did people come in to vote? I don’t think so, did the UWP people just stayed home and didn’t vote?
who was harder than Pharaoh? skerrit is not invincible at all he has his Achilles heel.
However dim their view may be, if the individual is a citizen and has the right to vote they can vote. Campaigning to restrict people from voting while supposedly advocating voter reform is hypocrisy.
now he has a mouth
am really disappointed in these people. Skerit and his gang they really wicked. Its time for them to go
Too later shall be your cry Peter Wickham……You support enough nonesense in your life already….
Tooo late to redeem yourself
Peter Wickham has repented . At least he has realized he was not true to self. When is the Gov.t of my Country come to this same self realiazation This Gov.t is Evil, There is an evil spell over Dominica cast by the Devil Quess W@ho?
Dear JOAN,
I agree with u some how, but the real EVIL is the Dominicans themselves, cause they are seeing the poverty in the COUNTRY and they are still singing LABOUR daddy Skewo what a set of DONKEY HOLES en
Some one who do not accept Bribes, or free Flights to come and vote for any party, but at the same time while Reading this statement by the Gentleman, which i agree with for the Records. I am asking what if those in the diaspora, withdraw all their monies from their banks, stop sending Barells, ect, ect, and when those conern visit the Diaspora just ignore them, can any one tell me thetype of impact such a move will have on our local economies? We have to be careful the message we send to our Brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, and be mindful of the fact we cannot have it both ways, or talk on both sides of our mouths. My humble opinion!
Keep on burping!!!
The problem is not diaspora being denied ability to vote. Every ctizen should have a right to vote in thier ccountry’s election. The opportunity to vote must also be equal. If the government is facilitating flights it cannot be for a selected few. If the government cannot provide transportation for every single Dominican abroad then it should not provide for any. Election is every five years so all those that are legal to vote can buy thier own tickets. We keep bitting around the bush. What these governments are doing is wrong. Most Diasporans are smart enough to know thier monetary contributions to families are way more valuable and important to Dominica than a vote. Wicham is singing for his supper.
Can the government tell the people they are bringing in who to vote.
So if they buy ticket for people, how do they know that they going to vote for them
Mahaut, it is not the governmnet that buys them tickets but the labour party. You may think that is the same thing and that they use government money but that is up to you. You think they give them a ticket simply because the love them? Grow up!
Like you I agree with the statement but I am a bit confused with the rest of your comment. The people who can afford to send barrels and save money in local banks are not the ones who receive tickets to go and vote in Dominica. I save in Dominica and contribute to family but don’t and would never accept a plane ticket to vote in Dominica. Those who do make no contribution to the economy of Dominica and in most cases have not visited for years. Even the very persons who organise the trips don’t come down to vote themselves.
Can U pause a little bit take some time and read what u have written and see if it is making no sence!
So you’re because they have money in the banks and send a few barrels and whatever else they may do, we should have them coming in to vote people while the have no experience of living under that party’s leadership?
saying*
@brp
Those of us who live in America pay our taxes there save our money in their bank send our kids to there school, still are not allowed to vote unless we become citizens.
So saying because I send a barrel to my sister once or twice a year and save some money in the aid bank, do I have a right to go home and vote in a country I do not reside in.
This is morally wrong on all levels.
I help my family because I’m able to afford it. Let my sister choose her government she lives there. Not me!
Just saying,
Any Citizen of America any where in the world has the right to vote in the General elections, even if they are abroad. So why can why can’t we be afforded the same.
It is only backward thinking people, that can say let them vote as they are the ones in that. if you love your Country you should have the right to determine who is leading.
I am not in favor of Government having to Charter flights for people to come vote, but by all means if you can go vote, go.
What’s wrong about this is that they don’t have to live with the consequences of their voting, whilst others do
Skerrit cannot win without diaspora voters in Vielle case
He is a coward and hires mercenaries to do his fighting for him. No respect!
stupid fool if you think or believethat
two tongue man,peter ,you are part of the cause dominicans are now begging dog bread, you knew this from long ago,you were part and parcel of it in 2009, also 2014, you said nothing, it was all about money, now you want to repent ,? go to GOD,
I think next time around, THE PEOPLE should be the ones to stop it… In the 2014 general ection, at least five to six constituencies went to the greedy and corrupt DLP because of overseas votes…AT HOME DLP is very unpopular!!!
election
If those in the Diaspora vote for DLP, you in Dominica do not, you are missing out on something. You appreciate nothing good.
It is amazing what people will do for a free lunch; or anything free.
These people who are residing in Antigua, some of them worst off than if they remained in Dominica are ignorant of the fact, as long as they vote for Skerrit, it is a vote to keep the country down, keep their very own families in poverty!
They are so stupid they fail to remember if Skerrit’s Dominica was an economically prosperous place they would not have left and went to seek refuge in Antigua.
They take a bribe every five years, to go home and vote against themselves, however, after they vote they return to Antigua where they are treated like dogs by the native born Antiguan’s and nobody can say otherwise. I lived there and experience it, all of my children are Antiguan born; how stupid are Dominicans Bird charted LIAT to take Dominicans home to vote against UWP because they conspired to prevent Dominica from getting an International Airport, they went home and voted against the Airport!
What was most amazing is when Peter Wickham said that St Lucian people would not accept imported voters. I sensed that Peter was implying that the St Lucian voters are more intelligent than ours in Dominica. That the administration in Dominica is a despotic regime.
Note well he said St Kitts have laws allowing imported voters. But not only that the voters list in St Kitts is a cleansed list and so dead voters and illegal voters cannot vote.
But Peter Wickam never offered these suggestion when he was working the Dominica election. Was it because of where his pay check was coming from.
One thing to note as well. Tony Astaphan is the legal advisor to Kenny Anthony SLP. St Lucia and Dominica has identical laws governing voter illegibility. Why Tony did not advise Kenny Anthony on bringing in imported voters to swing the results. Several reasons why. Peter Wickham insinuated one reason, another is that the Lucians are not heavily subjected to deliberate dependence on crooks in…
What’s his point or gripe? Well if it’s illegal, show us the money trail. There has never been a problem with citizens abroad voting unless they lost their citizenship. Maybe the outcome wasn’t what he expected. The upcoming US election will have thousands of Americans abroad voting by proxy or traveling home to vote. If one side or the other spends on them, no issue there.
Anon, does the U.S.A. pay the air fares, ferry tickets for selected voters? You are making a braod seep , hitting nothing.
They simply send mail in ballots for these Citizens leaving outside to vote.
Therefore as with other countries it is quite acceptable for them to go home to vote, if they so wish. Only those on the other side of the arena will object.
did you even understand what you read? lmao
When the Bajan suggested that the DLP would win the 2014 general election, why didn’t he tell Skeritt to let the people of Dominica decide the election. Why didn’t he tell Skeritt that accepting bride is illegal. All during the campaigning he heard the opposition was accusing the DLP of bribing in previous elections and the same is expected in the elections he was boasting that the DLP would win. He never said a word or investigated the allegations. I understood the relationship between himself and Tony has soured, because of the statement he made, ” we are fighting for our children.” Doesn’t that statement sound familiar, in the Soufierre Constituency election.. Once you get entangled with Tony, you are entering dangerous grounds with Skeritt, according to Masterlyn Labad, time will tell.
@Doc love, are the people coming in to vote not Dominicans? Didn’t the leader of the oppossition call for online voting so as to make it easier for overseas voters to vote? Mr. Wickham opinion in this regard is total rubbish for it is calling on us in Dominica and other parts of the region to isolate our nationals from the political process only depending on them for economic assistance. Is Mr. Wickham also saying that campaign contributions should not be solicited from overseas nationals. In Dominica the only political party to my knowledge who did not bring in overseas voters was the DFP. So stop acting as if the overseas voting is a creation of Skeritt.
Explainer
I was actually just scrolling down to see what people were saying before commenting, but I was wondering if some of them read a different article from the one I read. I think what I saw in the article was that “ruling and opposition parties spend millions”. I am still trying to decipher how that translates to the ruling party, (Skerrit) only.
I personally saw at least two people at the polling station where I voted who live overseas and are closely affiliated with the present Leader of the opposition. I doubt very much that they voted for the ruling party and I have no idea who paid their air fare. That happens to be two people I know personally and they happened to be there at the time I went to vote. God alone knows how many others were at other polling stations or even the same polling station at a different time.
I also heard of reports of the overseas family of a former opposition candidate in the LaPlaine constitutency who came in full numbers and voted.
to continue,
That is why I just don’t follow the reasoning of so many on this site. I’m not even sure if I have an opinion on the matter of Dominicans coming in to vote because we seem to want them to participate in every other way except to vote. Then I get even more puzzled when the same people who vehemently oppose overseas based Dominicans voting even with the rigorous processes in place at polling stations and voter ID’s to ensure eligibility, turn around and say we should have a system of voting on line for overseas Dominicans.
With photoshopping and all other methods of falsifying material on line you can put a person in a location in a country which he/she has never visited, put a different face on a person’s body with ease, send a message anonymously as most of us here are doing. Absolutely no control about identity, yet it is being espoused as an option by the same people who talk on the other side of their mouths about electoral fraud. I’m just confused…
If only Dominicans living on island had to decide the election, Labour would be without,R Valley,Mahaut,St Joe,G Fond, CastleBruce,Laplaine…..It’s the people who need to stop this desperation by Skerrit next time..
I agree with mr. Wickham. Our constitution made it perfectly clear that citizens are not deprived of heir right to vote but must do so under clearly prescribed conditions and that they are excluded form the process if they do not meet these criteria. I would not oppose a postal ballot, to increase the opportunity for all citizens to vote (and not only those who have their passage paid for) and to reduce costs, provided they are held subject to same conditions and parameters.
The other practice I would like to see abandoned is the participation in elections by political agents from other countries. It is unacceptable that a politician, say from Antigua or Barbados, appears a platform in Dominica to promote the cause of one of our local political parties in an election. If we are as independent as we say we should not accept this blatant meddling in the affairs of another country and it must stop.
Titiwi I agree,
Vote by ballot, to prevent fraud, you must put your passport number;
you cannot vote more than once, you cannot vote if you doh have a passport number or it have expired.
It should be easy to run your passport number against a database.
What happen to Peter Wickham he takes a completely different slant from that of the Skerrit Kabal, this time around? Wickham must be unhappy with something, or Skerrit Kabal made him unhappy about something? which one is it? Too litte too late Wickham, you should have sent your message long before the bi-election while all the treating was taking place in the Soufriere constituiency