{"id":9624,"date":"2010-05-21T07:38:33","date_gmt":"2010-05-21T13:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/?p=9624"},"modified":"2010-05-21T11:25:09","modified_gmt":"2010-05-21T17:25:09","slug":"the-case-for-a-viable-opposition-in-dominica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/the-case-for-a-viable-opposition-in-dominica\/","title":{"rendered":"The case for a viable Opposition in Dominica"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>
UWP leader, Ron Green<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By E. Magloire<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a democracy the people in a free and fair election choose their government. On December 18, 2009, Dominicans went to the polls and duly re-elected the Labour Party.<\/p>\n

By their votes, the majority of Dominicans affirmed their confidence in Labour\u2019s leadership. This electoral victory by Labour, gave the party a mandate to continue with its policies whether the minority agrees with them or not.\u00a0 That is what happens in an election, someone wins and someone loses.<\/p>\n

Victory in an election comes with a great responsibility to the victors.\u00a0 The government in charge, though elected by the majority of the people, still has a solemn responsibility to all the people.\u00a0 In any democracy, it is incumbent on those in power to ensure that the voices of the few are heard loud and clear and are not drowned out by the voices of the many. A viable opposition is needed to remind those in charge of that solemn responsibility. The opposition is there to remind them that there are equally patriotic citizens with differing opinions on how to best advance the interest of the country who are required to be heard.<\/p>\n

Any viable democracy is made up of citizens with differing views. That is the essence of a true democracy, the ability of citizens to engage freely in discussion without fear of retribution by the authorities. For any country to advance, a hybrid of progressive and conservative thought must be given credence and combined to achieve what is in the best interest of the country. After all, no one side has a monopoly on the solutions to all challenges.<\/p>\n

The opposition is the representative of the minority.\u00a0 It is there to serve as the conscience of those in power and remind them of their obligation to all the people.\u00a0 As such, the opposition must be perceived as acting in good faith. The opposition in its capacity as representatives of the minority should not just oppose those in power just to be contrary. A viable opposition must have insightful ideas on how to achieve the common objective of advancing the national interest and engage in debate on how to proceed. The two sides may not always agree on how to advance the country\u2019s interest, however, when the opposition is viewed as being constructive, its motives can never be questioned.<\/p>\n

Most of those who assent to public office do so because of an altruistic need to serve an interest bigger than themselves.\u00a0 They are patriotic citizens who love their country and feel that they can contribute positively to its development. There is no solitary voice speaking for all the people in a democracy, rather, there are copious numbers of voices engaging in vigorous respectful discussion.<\/p>\n

The opposition is an indispensable part of that discussion. Therefore, if the opposition is derelict in its obligation as representatives of the voices of the minority, those in power are left to believe that maybe they do have a monopoly on ideas of what is best for everyone.<\/p>\n

DISCLAIMER: The views in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of the management and staff of Dominica News Online and its parent company.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By E. Magloire In a democracy the people in a free and fair election choose their government. On December 18, 2009, Dominicans went to the polls and duly re-elected the Labour Party. By their votes, the majority of Dominicans affirmed…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe case for a viable Opposition in Dominica - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/the-case-for-a-viable-opposition-in-dominica\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The case for a viable Opposition in Dominica - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By E. Magloire In a democracy the people in a free and fair election choose their government. On December 18, 2009, Dominicans went to the polls and duly re-elected the Labour Party. 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