The United Workers' Party (UWP) is a centrist political party in Dominica. As of the 2022 general election, the party is not represented in the House of Assembly of Dominica, after boycotting the general election. The past Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly is Lennox Linton.
The United Workers' Party with less than 34% of the votes was the majority party in Dominica's parliament from 1995 until 2000, led by party co-founder Edison James as Prime Minister of Dominica.
The party now has a new leader, Thomson Fontaine who is the current Leader of the Opposition. In the 2014 general elections, the party won 6 seats out of the 21. This was reduced to 3 in 2019, and 0 in 2022 following a boycott of the 2022 general elections. The UWP subsequently filed litigation in the Roseau High Court challenging the results of five constituencies, including that of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, and demanding a new general election; pending the results, the three UWP members boycotted parliament. After two UWP members did not attend three consecutive sessions, Speaker of the House Alix Boyd Knights declared their seats vacant in April, and a by-election was scheduled for 9 July 2010. Both UWP members ran and won their seats again in the by-election, against the same candidates they faced in the 2009 general election.
UWP member Hector John was sworn in as Leader of the Opposition on 19 July 2010. Four of the six UWP legal petitions were dismissed in August 2010. The UWP members are expected to end their boycott, citing as a reason the President's announcement that funds would be made available for election reform.
Edison James was reelected political leader of the UWP at its January 2012 convention, and Ezekiel Bazil was elected the party's president.
Electoral history
House of Assembly elections
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Election
!Party leader
!Votes
!%
!Seats
!+/–
!Position
!Result
|-
|1990
| rowspan="4" |Edison James
|8,979
|26.9%
|
| 6
| 2nd
|
|-
|1995
|12,777
|34.4%
|
| 5
| 1st
|
|-
|2000
|15,555
|43.4%
|
| 2
| 2nd
|
|-
|2005
|16,529
|43.60%
|
| 1
| 2nd
|
|-
|2009
|Earl Williams
|12,606
|34.73%
|
| 5
| 2nd
|
|-
|2014
| rowspan="2" |Lennox Linton
|17,479
|42.92%
|
| 3
| 2nd
|
|-
|2019
|16,424
|40.99%
|
| 3
| 2nd
|
|-
|2022
|Thomson Fontaine
| colspan="5" |Boycotted
|
|}
References
External links
- Workers Voice Online: the United Workers' Party official website