Roseau North MP Daniel Lugay suggests changes to Roseau City Council election to ensure participation

​Roseau North MP Daniel Lugay who is also a Roseau City councillor, has suggested that a few changes be made to the process of election of the Roseau City Council, in order to ensure greater voter turnout and participation. Lugay also proposed that the date for nominations as well as election of councillors be changed. Nomination Day for the council election was held on 25th October 2016, and election was set for 14th November 2016.
 
While addressing the 12th Inaugural Meeting of the Roseau City Council at the Arawak House of Culture on Wednesday 23rd November 2016, Lugay lamented the low voter turnout at the 2016 city council elections, 
 
He said, “I recommend, and call on the relevant Ministry and Electoral Commission, to consider changing the date of the Roseau City Council election, as it coincides with the celebrations of Independence, and gets lost in the minds of City residents”.
 
Lugay also called on the Electoral Commission to review the manner in which the Roseau City Council election is conducted, so as to avoid undermining the process, and thereby safeguard the integrity of elections in Dominica.
 
He accused political operatives of undermining the electoral process “by bullying candidates, forcing them to withdraw their names from the candidacy, and leaving only two candidates per ward, and thereby causing no actual voting to be done”. Lugay said that was the case in all four wards of the Roseau City Council elections, “where there was no actual voting”.
 
He added, “It cannot be acceptable that the will of the people, through their votes, are taken away in anti-democratic practices, by well-placed individuals who are intent on undermining and corrupting the sacred electoral process”.
 
The new 13-member Roseau Council comprises Mayor Irene John, Ermine Royer, Ken Joseph, Rohan Kemai John, Sherman Boston, Wayne D. Benjamin, Lucy Belle Matthew, Michael Moreau, Ivan Sonnes, Rhea Brumant, Kimara Hurtault, Daniel Lugay, and Erickson Romain.