THE scale of foreign funding for the December 18 poll in Dominica could well work in favour of the incumbent Labour Party (DLP), who are bidding for a third successive term.

Nominations for that Windward Islands’ 21-member Parliament closed last Wednesday evening (December 2) amid controversies pertaining to significant overseas campaign funding as well as claims of dual citizenship by some candidates of both the ruling DLP and the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP).

When the Parliament was dissolved last month, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s ruling DLP held 12 of the 21 seats on the basis of results from the December 2005 election, and while the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) — now under the leadership, for the first time, of Ronald Greene — held eight.

There was one successful ‘Independent’; the once formidable Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) of the late Eugenia Charles failed to win a single seat.

In the face of passionate claims about sources of campaign funding and disputes over dual citizenship, the three traditional primary contestants registered a total of 49 candidates.

They comprised a full slate of 21 for the DLP, the UWP — 17, and 11 from the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP). For the first time an array of representatives of fringe parties and “independents” make up the additional 13 candidates. Some of these are expected to create severe challenges, with split votes in marginal constituencies of which there are at least five.

As far as funding for the main contesting parties by foreign governments is concerned, it seems a case of déjà vu for Campaign 2009 with persistent claims of Prime Minister Skerrit’s DLP being a big beneficiary of financial assistance from the “friendly” governments of Venezuela and the People’s Republic of China.

On the other hand, the UWP’s primary foreign source of campaign funding is said to be Taiwan — as it was in 2005.

‘Friendly’ Funders

Unlike 2005, however, when China was said to the primary funder, following the DLP’s severing of diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Prime Minister Skerrit’s party is now reported to have President Hugo Chavez’s government as its major funding partner — a claim it denies.

According to a privately circulated document obtained by this writer and titled “Dominica Labour Party — Budget Outline” for Campaign 2009, the DLP’s envisaged campaign expenditures total approximately US$8.338 million.

This includes the cost of chartered flights to facilitate Dominicans from the diasporas and within Caricom (600 of them) whose “participation is vital to our success”, according to the budget document.

While a leading consultant and legal adviser to Prime Minister Skerrit said that “the party considers the document to be bogus”, the UWP has openly challenged the DLP to “publicly explain what aspects of the budget document are bogus”.

At the same time, former prime minister and ex-UWP leader, Edison James, was adamant that his party “has not received one cent from Taiwan for this election campaign. Let the prime minister and his party come forward with evidence to the contrary…”, he challenged.

Prime Minister Skerrit remains at the centre of the row which started on Nomination Day about how and when he acquired French citizenship (he is known to have been born in Dominica on June 8,1972).

He is, nevertheless, quite optimistic that his party “will secure a decisive” third-term victory and, for him personally, a second full five-year spell as head of government.

Skerrit’s optimism is linked to an opinion poll that was conducted for the DLP last August by the Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES) of well-known political scientist and pollster, Peter Wickham. The results gave the incumbent a clear parliamentary majority with a seven per cent swing in its favour.

Not unexpectedly, the main opposition UWP has not only disagreed with the CADRES’ forecast, but said on Wednesday that “evidence on the ground at this time shows that our party will return to power on December 18…”

According to reports out of Roseau, it appears that the bitter campaign is heading for a close finish with speculations of a victory for the party with much more money to spend — the DLP.

Last month both the UWP and DFP refused to sign a Code of Conduct prepared by the Dominica Christian Council and the Dominica Evangelical Association, partly as a consequence of the religious bodies’ public silence on the denial of access by contesting opposition parties to state-owned Dominica Broadcasting Service (DBS).

At the 2005 general election, the DLP had won its 12 seats with 19,741 votes (52.1 per cent), or an overall plurality of 2,118, compared with the DLP’s 16,529 (43.6 per cent) and the lone Independent’s 1,194 votes (3.2 per cent). The national voter turnout was 57.5 per cent.