![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Joshua-Francis.jpg\")
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Former Parliamentary Representative for the Roseau South Constituency, Attorney Joshua Francis has stepped out of the political arena once again.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time Francis has left politics as there were rumours of his departure as early as 2016 when he was ousted as deputy leader of the UWP due to his involvement in a court matter. He also quit outright in 2017 only to return in May of 2018.<\/p>\n
He told Dominica News Online (DNO) during an interview on Tuesday that he decided to take a break and move out \u201ccleanly\u201d.<\/p>\n
Francis, who was a member of the Opposition United Workers Party (UWP) lost his seat to newcomer Chekira Lockhart-Hypolite in the 2019 General Election by about 299 votes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stepped out to give myself an opportunity to walk into a new season of my life. I needed a break, I needed to get out of the noise to go into a season of peace and quiet for self-restoration, self-repair, and self-development,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Francis stated, however, should it be God\u2019s will sometime in the future he may return to give political service to the people, \u201cbut not in the immediate future.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no intention to be a candidate in the next general election. I do not know what the future holds but for now I needed some time and space for self-development and I wish everybody well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Meantime, Francis said he will continue to have a close relationship with the Roseau South Constituency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is part of my extended family and I have not turned my back and I will not turn my back on the people,\u201d he indicated.<\/p>\n
He went on to say that one of the things he will be focusing on is his law practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy law practice is one of the things that I will be focused on moving forward,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Francis expressed his gratitude to all those who have contributed to him in one way or the other.<\/p>\n
He also thanked all of the UWP, the Roseau South Constituency, and Dominica by extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the best for every one of us, I hope the best for a better Dominica, a better Roseau South and an improvement in life for every single Dominican, especially the barefoot man,\u201d Francis said.<\/p>\n
His decision was officially made known in a letter to the President of the UWP.<\/p>\n
The UWP suffered a major defeat to the incumbent Dominica Labour Party, who won 18 of the 21 seats in the last general elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Parliamentary Representative for the Roseau South Constituency, Attorney Joshua Francis has stepped out of the political arena once again. This is not the first time Francis has left politics as there were rumours of his departure as early as…","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":243934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[77,235,9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n