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Three strikes force Dominica MPs to vacate seats

Posted by CaribShout on May 6, 2010 at 9:15pm

ROSEAU, Dominica, Thursday May 6, 2010 – After missing three consecutive sittings of Parliament, two opposition MPs in Dominica have had their seats declared vacant, paving the way for by-elections in their constituencies. Speaker of the House Alix Boyd-Knight took the action yesterday against former prime minister Edison James and Hector John, two of the three United Workers Party (UWP) parliamentarians who won seats in the 21-member parliament in the 2009 general election. They have not attended parliament since the December 18th poll, in protest of what they said were irregularities in the election. The third UWP MP, Norris Prevost, had been boycotting parliament as well, but last Thursday broke ranks and attended a sitting. He has therefore kept his seat. The Standing Orders of Parliament indicate that missing three consecutive sittings of the House place a legislator in danger of having his or her seat declared vacant. Boyd-Knight said she had received letters from James and John indicating they would be absent for the three sittings they missed, but she said the Standing Orders did not give her the authority to “turn a letter of information into a request for leave to miss parliament”. “Because of the fact that I have no discretionary powers in the matter, I have had no choice but to inform the two gentlemen that their seats are now vacant,” she said. James has accused the Speaker of being “engaged in a personal battle with the opposition”.
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