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The position of leader of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) remains firmly in the hands of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit who said there is presently no vacancy for it.<\/p>\n
The party will be meeting for its Delegates’ Conference in Vieille Case on November 10 during which positions will be contested and put to a vote.<\/p>\n
Speaking on state-owned DBS Radio on Monday morning, Skerrit said he doesn’t expect a contest for the party’s top job, which he holds, at the conference.<\/p>\n
“In respect to the party leader, we don’t expect there to be any contest,” he said. “There is no vacancy now. The Prime Minister is in place and of course at the appropriate time, whenever there is a need for a new leader there will be peaceful and serious transition within the party.”<\/p>\n
Skerrit was first elected Political Leader of the DLP in February 2004. His rise to the top job of the party was unprecedented since he was elected Member of Parliament for Vieille Case just four years prior in 2000. Under then Prime Minister, Rosie Douglas, he was appointed Minister of Youth and Sports.<\/p>\n
Following Douglas’ death in October 2000, Pierre Charles became Prime Minister of Dominica but he passed away in January 6, 2004. Two days later, Skerrit was sworn in as Prime Minister. At age 31, he was the world’s youngest Prime Minister at that time, leading a two-party coalition government. One month later was he was elected Political Leader, a position he has held since then.<\/p>\n
In his interview with DBS Radio, Skerrit expressed confidence that he will remain at the head of the DLP following the Delegates’ Conference.<\/p>\n
“I have no doubt that it will be uncontested,” he remarked. “As of the Delegates’ Conference coming up, I don’t expect any contest for the leadership of the party.”<\/p>\n
With Skerrit announcing there are no vacancies for the DLP’s leader position, it appears he will remain in the political scene, although at least on two occasions in the past he had spoken about retiring.<\/p>\n
At a DLP rally in St Joseph on February 2, 2016, he mentioned leaving the party\u2019s top position after it won the 2015 general election.<\/p>\n
“On the night of December 8th when we won the last election, I told my wife and a few very close associates and my colleagues, that that was my last election campaign as leader of this great political party,” he said. “I had absolutely no intention of contesting the next election as Prime Ministerial candidate.”<\/p>\n
But according to him, the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) under its then leader, Lennox Linton, was getting him angry.<\/p>\n
“These guys have made me angry! These guys are doing damage to Dominica that will take more than four years to repair,” he said. “I have now told myself, my work in this country is not complete. Not only will we rebuild this country in four short years, but I will lead my forces into battle one more time to defeat Lennox Linton and the United Workers Party…I give you the assurance that Roosevelt Skerrit, God willing, shall be back to lead his forces into battle four years from now, or whenever the opportunity presents itself to call a general election.”<\/p>\n
He came back in 2019 and won again but on the 6th of <\/sup>November, 2022, while announcing snap general elections, Prime Minister Skerrit stated that he did not intend to remain in office beyond April 2025 in fulfillment of the constitutional mandate that the people of Dominica had given to him.<\/p>\n \u201cTowards this end, we have done our own internal analysis. I started first with\u00a0myself. I have been your chief servant for 22 years. I am eternally humbled\u00a0and very grateful for the opportunity you have given me to serve. I hope that\u00a0my efforts will be judged fairly and within context,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cOn this occasion of National Reset, I have listened to the views of all, and I\u00a0have made a personal decision, which I have shared with some of my party\u00a0elders. You have given me a mandate that constitutionally allows me to\u00a0remain in office as your Prime Minister until April, 2025. I do not intend to go\u00a0beyond that date. I have run my race and I intend to finish the course, with\u00a0Dominica safely back on a road of sustained progress and prosperity. That\u00a0is why, I am calling for a National Reset!\u201d<\/p>\n Skerrit said during the DBS interview that the party\u2019s strength has been manifested and people are gearing up for the delegates conference which will include an open session which will be attended by where party supporters and well-wishers are invited to be present and a closed session where the elections of officers of the party, among other matters, will be dealt with.<\/p>\n The prime minister said that all positions in the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) will be open for contest and elections, except for the party leader position, which he currently holds. He emphasized that there is no vacancy for the party leader role at this time and assured that any future leadership transition will be peaceful and seamless. Skerrit stressed the importance of unity within the party to properly represent the people’s interests and expressed his desire to oversee a dignified transition of Prime Ministerial leadership to a chosen successor.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The position of leader of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) remains firmly in the hands of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit who said there is presently no vacancy for it. The party will be meeting for its Delegates’ Conference in Vieille…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":330814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n