As the Roseau North by-election approaches, the United Workers Party (UWP) candidate Danny Lugay has thrown the spotlight on serious alleged irregularities in the constituency’s electoral roll, triggering a major dispute over election integrity in Dominica.
Lugay first brought forward his claims during an appearance on the *Hot Seat* talk show hosted by Matt Peltier, detailing that his campaign team, composed of tech-savvy young volunteers, uncovered hundreds of problematic entries during a line-by-line review of the voter register. Among the most high-profile suspicious cases is a voter registered to the residential address of local Roseau resident Herbert Sabaroche, despite having no ties to the property and actually residing in either Marigot or hailing from Laplaine, according to Lugay.
“The issue is that you have a registration that was done using his address and that person doesn’t live there,” Lugay stated during the programme. “As far as he knows, this gentleman lives in Marigot or is from Laplaine, but he doesn’t live there.”
Beyond incorrect address registrations, Lugay says the team has identified roughly 130 duplicate and even triplicate entries of the same individual on the Roseau North roll. Even more alarming, he claims, is that the name of deceased resident Ken George, whose last permanent address was in Pottersville, appears twice on the register.
Local campaign supporters with intimate knowledge of the constituency’s residential landscape have also assisted the review, cross-checking addresses and flagging dozens of additional cases where registered voters are completely unknown to current residents at the listed addresses.
Lugay confirmed that he formally submitted these findings to Dominica’s Chief Elections Officer in a letter dated August 10, and the pair later met to discuss the irregularities. During that meeting, Lugay says the Chief Elections Officer acknowledged the existence of duplicate and triplicate entries and confirmed the matter had been escalated to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission for further review.
“I’m hoping that this matter can be resolved because she recognized that there are those duplicates and triplicates on the Roseau North register,” Lugay said. He has issued a clear warning to anyone illegally registered that the campaign will deploy trained agents to polling stations on voting day, and any individual found to have falsified their registration information will face legal prosecution under existing Dominica election law.
“If you know that you had illegal and unlawful registration, do not show up in the lines,” Lugay cautioned. “My agents will be looking closely. You will be asked to take an oath, and if it is proven that you lied or illegally entered the Roseau North register, action will be taken.”
UWP political leader Dr. Thomson Fontaine joined the programme via call to express full party backing for Lugay’s investigation, confirming the party has launched its own full review of more than 260 newly added voters on a supplementary electoral roll released for the by-election.
Fontaine also leveled sharp criticism at recent amendments to Dominica’s electoral laws, arguing the changes have stripped opposition parties of the ability to challenge questionable registrations before voting takes place. Under previous rules, parties had until midnight after writs are issued to file queries and objections over voter entries. The revised legislation blocks all pre-election challenges, requiring disputes to be filed only after the poll has concluded, a change Fontaine says is suspiciously timed to enable unchecked irregularities.
“We are beginning to see why,” Fontaine said of the legislative change, suggesting the amendment was crafted to prevent timely scrutiny of questionable new registrations. He reiterated that Dominica’s election law requires voters to have maintained a residence in the constituency for a minimum of three months to qualify for registration, and the party is reviewing every entry on the supplementary list.
“If we determine that individuals do not reside in Roseau North, we will make their names public. We will also pursue legal action and file criminal complaints with the police against anyone found to have engaged in illegal activity,” Fontaine said. While he acknowledged that all claims are currently unproven, he urged any improperly registered voter to proactively contact the Electoral Office to correct their information before the party completes its review.
As of press time, neither the Electoral Commission nor the Chief Elections Officer has issued any public comment addressing the specific allegations put forward by Lugay, Fontaine and the United Workers Party.
