Dominica elected its first female head of state overshadowed by opposition attempts to scuttle the “historic moment” and raise the possibility of the matter ending up before the courts.
By a margin of 20-5, Dominican lawmakers, – six government ministers and one opposition legislator were absent for various reasons – voted in support of 58-year-old Sylvanie Burton, the government’s nominee, who had faced a challenge from Anette Sanford.
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She will be sworn in on October 2.
Both women are from the Kaliangoo Territory, where the descendants of the country’s indigenous people, the Caribs, still reside.
But the victory was overshadowed by an attempt by opposition legislator, Sean Douglas, who questioned whether Burton had met the requirements under the Dominica Constitution to be nominated, claiming that she was still employed as a senior public servant.
“The nominee has engaged in certain acts which offend the Public Service Act, in which if she is President warrant her removal from office and as such the House should not proceed on the election of the President as Sylvanie Burton being a candidate or nominee,” he said.
But Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who lamented the fact that there had not been a consensus in the nomination for the position of the island’s 12th head of state since independence in 1978, questioned the facts being presented by Douglas.
“All of what the Senator would have said in his arguments to the House to indicate that the candidate Mrs. Sylvanie Burton is not qualified cannot stand,” he said, telling legislators that she had retired from the public service on September 11 this year.
“What I would say to the Senator, and I would ask him to research the very same arguments he is making in respect to Mrs. Sylvanie Burton…is to ask him whether he has also investigated the qualification or disqualification of the Leader of the Opposition’s candidate and whether he is aware…that the arguments he is using against Mrs. Sylvanie Burton that his candidate is in violation of that section of the Constitution”.
Skerrit moved for a five-minute adjournment of the Parliament to allow Douglas to research the answer, but when it resumed, he was unable to answer the question, with Opposition Leader Jesma Paul Victor supporting the decision to continue with the balloting process.
However, Speaker Joseph Isaac, informed legislators that the matter could reach the Court of Appeal, saying that prior to the sitting of the Parliament today he had sought guidance on the question raised by the opposition legislator.
“I said this morning we were a little late because…we were dealing with the same qualification issue,” he said, adding “first I would say, the jurisdiction with regards to qualification has to be at the High Court, the Court of Appeal.
“So the House is not going to deal with the issue of qualification, we are going to proceed with the voting for the President.,” Isaac said.
Skerrit said he was disappointed that the election of Burton was not an opportunity “for us to rally around one candidate and to show the world that on some things there can be unity of purpose.
“There really should not have been any reason for there not to have been one candidate. But, be as it may, that’s the democratic process and everybody has a right to determine how they do things and when they do things.”
But prime Minister Skerrit said it has not robbed Dominica of creating history and “it has not robbed women of an opportunity to be grateful and that a woman for the first time in the history of our country, has been recognized and elevated to this high office.”
Burton has been a senior public servant since 2014 and when she retired was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment, Rural Modernization, Kalinagoo Upliftment, and Constituency Empowerment.
She has been a Justice of the Peace for 25 years and holds a master’s degree in project management and a bachelor’s degree in Rural Development.
She is married and has two children. (CMC)
