Numbers Never Lie: Dominica Must Learn the Lesson
Many people keep asking me to look at the Antigua and Barbuda election results and compare them to what is unfolding in Dominica.
The truth is simple:
The same political mistakes being made there are being repeated here.
And if the United Workers Party (UWP), under Dr. Thompson Fontaine, does not correct course quickly, they are heading toward the exact same political defeat that happened under Lennox Linton.
History is repeating itself.
The opposition continues to believe that noise, outrage, and foreign pressure will automatically translate into votes.
It will not.
Politics does not work like that.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and the Dominica Labour Party understand something the opposition continues to ignore:
Elections are won long before Election Day.
They are won through organization.
They are won through community presence.
They are won through constituency work.
They are won through trust.
They are won by solving everyday problems for ordinary people.
Not Facebook lives.
Not endless press conferences.
Not overseas applause.
The Antigua numbers tell the full story:
2018 Election
Registered Voters: 51,258
Votes Cast: 39,220
Turnout: 76.51%
2023 Election
Registered Voters: 60,916
Votes Cast: 42,849
Turnout: 70.34%
2026 Election
Registered Voters: 61,811
Votes Cast: 39,515
Turnout: 63.93%
The voter list grew.
But turnout kept falling.
Why?
Because opposition politics without connection to people’s daily realities does not create a winning movement.
People vote based on survival.
Jobs.
Housing.
Roads.
Schools.
Healthcare.
Stability.
Security.
Economic confidence.
Not just slogans.
In Dominica, the UWP faces an even deeper problem.
They are not only carrying the same old failures from the Lennox Linton era, but they are now trying to repackage the same tired political machinery with a leadership structure that feels disconnected from the energy and demands of modern voters.
Instead of building fresh national confidence, they appear to be recycling old battles, old grudges, and old faces.
The country is looking forward.
They keep campaigning backward.
That is dangerous in politics.
Voters do not reward confusion.
They do not reward internal fighting.
They do not reward division.
And they certainly do not reward an opposition that appears more focused on attacking than offering a serious national alternative.
That is exactly why Antigua remained Bird Country.
And unless serious changes happen, Dominica will remain Labour Country.
Because politics is not emotion.
It is strategy.
It is structure.
It is discipline.
It is trust.
And right now, whether people like it or not, the DLP understands the battlefield far better than the UWP.
Politics is chess, not checkers.
And elections are not won by who shouts the loudest.
They are won by who understands the people best.
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