Landslide Victory for Roosevelt Skerrit

In what is being called a “landslide victory,” Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica, once again retook his position as prime minister for the third time in just six years.

Prime Minister Skerrit was sworn in on Monday, December 21st, 2009 after running as the leader of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) and defeating his main opponent, Ron Green of the United Workers Party, with 18 seats compared to Green’s 3.

Elections were held last Friday, December 18 in the Commonwealth of Dominica, which is a parliamentary democracy located in the eastern part of the Caribbean Sea, about 500 miles from Venezuela in South America. Dominica has the distinction of being one of the few republics in the region, where the president is the head of state and the cabinet is where executive power lies, with the prime minister as the head.

The parliament is unicameral with a House of Assembly made up of 30 members. Twenty-one of the members are elected directly by the electorate, and an additional nine are senators who have either been appointed by the president or elected by the other members of the House of Assembly. Roosevelt Skerrit, the newly elected prime minister, will now lead the Commonwealth of Dominica into its political future.