Lennox Linton
ROSEAU, Dominica– Radio talk show host, Lennox Linton, is being tipped to lead the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) as it prepares for the next general elections constitutionally due by March 2015.
Linton has already been endorsed as the replacement for former prime minister and party leader, Edison James, who Monday confirmed that he would not be seeking re-election as parliamentary representative for the Marigot constituency, north of here.
James said that while he supports Linton as his replacement for the Marigot constituency which he has held since 1990, a new leader can only be selected by a delegates conference.
“There are other people who have what it takes but the constituency of Marigot including myself, have identified Mr. Linton as a suitable person to be the candidate and to be the elected representative for Marigot,” he told a news conference.
“So it stands to reason to the extent that Mr. Linton name has surfaced in the context of the leadership effort I think everybody would be surprised particularly the people of Marigot if I didn’t support Mr. Linton,” he added.
James said “it had been a pleasure and honour to have been allowed to serve the people of Marigot since 1990 and to have had the opportunity to have served the people of Dominica as prime minister and opposition leader over the years.
“I am assuring now the members, supporters and indeed the general public that I will be there fully committed to working with the UWP to return (the party) to government,” said James, 70, who in 1995 became prime minister after leading the UWP to victory by winning 11 of the 21 seats.
In the 2000 elections, the UWP suffered a surprise defeat even though it won the most vote votes as a block. It lost three seats and while none of the parties won enough seats to form a government on its own, the Dominica freedom party (DFP) and the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) agreed to a coalition and James was replaced as head of government by Roosevelt Douglas.
UWP president Ezekiel Bazil told reporters that a meeting of the general council of the party will be held soon where the date would be set for the convention to choose a new leader.
“With general elections constitutionally due by March 2015 at the latest, it is expected that the general council of the United Workers Party will call its annual convention before November 2013,” he said, adding that the party is also already in the processing of choosing candidates for the election.
But the present Opposition Leader Hector John and Norris Prevost, two of the more senior members of the party, say they will not contest the election for the leadership of the UWP.
The party has not won a general election since the 2000 defeat and Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who is expected to lead the DLP into the next general election, said he was not perturbed at Linton’s possible elevation to the hierarchy of the UWP.