Ahead of the upcoming Roseau North constituency by-election, the Dominica Business Forum (DBF), a non-partisan non-profit organization, has finalized and published binding guidelines for a structured public candidate discussion scheduled for Wednesday, July 29. The event, which will run from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Dominica China Friendship Hospital Auditorium, marks a return to organized electoral candidate exchanges after more than 20 years of absence in the country.
Three candidates contesting the open constituency seat have all received official invitations to join the discussion: Danny Lugay representing the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP), Ashma McDougal of the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP), and Sherman Boston, who is running as an independent candidate. DBF organizers have stressed that the gathering is framed as an educational idea exchange, not a confrontational political debate, with a core goal of fostering respectful engagement between candidates and the electorate.
The published rules outline a structured, fair process designed to ensure equal speaking time for all participants. Candidates will draw lots to determine the order of their opening remarks, with each candidate allocated exactly seven minutes to lay out their policy priorities and campaign plans for the constituency and the broader nation. Following the opening presentations, moderators will ask each candidate one targeted follow-up question. Pre-selected audience members will then have the opportunity to pose questions, with each candidate guaranteed to receive the same number of questions from the public. Individual audience questions are capped at one minute, and candidates will have up to three minutes to deliver each response.
To maintain the event’s civil tone, the DBF has implemented strict prohibitions: direct arguments between candidates, personal attacks, and character assassination are all explicitly banned. All questions and comments must be routed through the event’s moderators, and each audience member may only pose one question or make one brief statement, with no opportunity for additional follow-up. Applause is only permitted during the opening introduction of candidates and at the close of the entire discussion. Any attendee who disrupts proceedings or violates the established guidelines will be asked to leave the venue immediately, and organizers have committed to wrapping up the full event within the scheduled two-hour window.
The full agenda for the evening follows a formal, structured flow: it opens with the playing of the national anthem, an opening prayer, a welcome address, opening remarks from DBF leadership, the introduction of moderators and candidates, the candidate presentations and audience Q&A segment, closing remarks, and a formal vote of thanks. Two experienced local broadcast journalists, Kaywana Fontaine-Wilson and Matthias Peltier Jr., have been selected to serve as co-moderators, and the DBF has confirmed that both will oversee the discussion with strict impartiality.
DBF leadership noted that the discussion was organized in response to longstanding calls for greater electoral transparency and public engagement. The organization says it hopes this event will reestablish the tradition of structured, respectful candidate exchanges that has not been seen in Dominica’s electoral process for over two decades, giving voters a direct opportunity to assess each candidate’s positions before they cast their ballots.