Parliamentary representative for the Marigot Constituency, Anthony Charles, said he is ready to begin his term as opposition leader.
He highlighted the ongoing impasse during his response to the 2025/2025 National Budget on Monday.
Charles contested and won the December 20, 2022 snap general election as an independent candidate in the Marigot constituency. Reportedly, he and Jesma Paul-Victor, who was also elected to parliament as an independent opposition candidate in the Salisbury constituency, agreed to a power-sharing arrangement in which they would alternate as Leader of the Opposition. This was necessary because neither Charles nor Paul-Victor could command the support of other elected members of the House to enable them to claim the position.
However, there appears to be a delay in Charles’ appointment in fulfillment of his power-sharing agreement with the Salisbury MP.
“This is the second budget that we have been moving a motion to allow someone in the opposition, an elected member to [report on] the budget…on December 2022, Honourable Jesma Paul-Victor won her seat. I won my seat. I did the most [gentlemanly] thing: ‘ladies first’. She got her time, and then she resigned,” Charles explained. “So, this is the second time we have to keep moving a motion. Mr. Speaker, the constitution is in crisis, and I hold myself responsible…Some might say no, some might say yes. But I’m reaching out a hand to the next elected member for us to solve this situation.”
He continued, “The President’s office is just over there, and maybe P.S. Valmond can draft something for us, sign it today, and drop it off before lunchtime, and solve this constitutional crisis. We might laugh but this to me is getting out of hand, and we are having Dominica like it is a joke, and we need to solve this.”
Charles called on Paul-Victor to respond to this issue.
Paul-Victor’s letter of resignation marking the end of her tenure was tendered “with immediate effect” on June 20, 2024, but a prompt response from the President signed by her secretary, and which appeared on social media, reminded Paul-Victor of the procedure that has to be followed in filling the vacant position of Leader of the Opposition.
She was advised in the letter, that in accordance with section 66 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Dominica, which outlines the criteria for appointing a Leader of the Opposition, “the elected members of the House who do not support the Government, would be required to submit a joint letter to The President informing whom they now support to be appointed Leader of the opposition.” According to the constitution, the President must select the elected member of the House who appears most likely to command the support of a majority of elected members not aligned with the Government.
In an interview with Dominica News Online (DNO) in 2024, Charles expressed his readiness for the appointment, and while discussions have not yet taken place on the change-over, he stressed the importance of adhering to the 18-month split-term agreement between the two opposition parliamentarians.
Recognizing the need for collective ideas to shape Dominica’s future, Charles, who at the time declared himself to be a registered member of Dominica’s newest political party, the United Progressive Party (UPP), pledged to engage with independent candidates from the last election,
“I will have some [meeting] with them to share some of their ideas because my ideas alone cannot build Dominica, so we need to bring our ideas together, opposition forces to come to a mutual agreement to move this country,” he stated.
Charles also lamented what he referred to as youth indifference in Dominica and called for the inclusion of young people in various aspects of the national development process.
However, it was still unclear as to when exactly the Marigot parliamentary representative would take up his leadership position in the House. He told DNO that, at the time, he had not heard from Paul-Victor about the joint letter.
So the nation currently waits with some anticipation to see how Charles will approach the job of Leader of the Opposition and how that opportunity will help to shape his political future.
very good Hon. Tony.