标签： Dominica

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.

New official guidance issued by the United Kingdom government has updated the roster of nationalities eligible for automatic exemption from the separate English language proficiency requirement for applicants seeking permanent settlement or British citizenship, and Dominica has been formally included on the approved list.

The UK Home Office’s updated framework outlines that citizens from any qualifying nationality on the published list are immediately recognized as satisfying the English language mandate, eliminating the need to submit additional standardized test scores or language qualifications to prove proficiency. Dominica joins a broader group of majority English-speaking jurisdictions across the Caribbean, North America, Europe and the Pacific that already hold the exemption status. The full list of approved nationalities and territories currently includes Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, all British Overseas Territories, Canada, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Ireland (for citizenship application purposes), Malta, New Zealand, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.

Under UK immigration rules, the exemption for Dominican nationals stems from the official classification of Dominica as a majority English-speaking nation. This classification directly removes the obligation to provide separate proof of English language skills for eligible applications. Crucially, the guidance clarifies a key distinction that many prospective applicants often misunderstand: recognition as an English official language in an applicant’s home country does not automatically grant an exemption. Only nations formally listed as majority English-speaking by the UK government qualify for this waiver, meaning even applicants from countries where English holds official status or is widely used in daily life are required to prove their language proficiency if their nationality is not included on the approved list. This distinction impacts numerous citizens from African and Asian nations where English is integrated into government, education and public life, but have not been added to the UK’s exemption roster.

For citizenship applicants specifically, the exemption only applies to the English language segment of the mandatory Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK (KoLL) requirement. All other eligibility criteria remain in force: applicants from exempt nationalities must still pass the Life in the UK test to demonstrate their understanding of British society and governance, unless they qualify for an additional separate exemption.

The UK government has announced upcoming changes to English language requirements for select permanent settlement routes, with higher mandated proficiency standards set to take effect for relevant applications starting March 26, 2027. These changes do not alter Dominica’s exempt status under the current classification framework, which will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

For Dominican nationals currently residing in the UK and preparing to submit settlement or citizenship applications in 2026, the updated guidance provides much-needed formal clarification of their eligibility. While they are not required to submit a separate English language qualification to meet the language component of their application, officials still encourage all applicants to review the specific requirements for their chosen immigration or citizenship pathway carefully before submitting materials to the Home Office. The full updated guidelines are publicly available for reference on the UK government’s official website, GOV.UK.