General elections were held in Dominica on 21 July 1980 for the 21 elected seats in the House of Assembly using a first-past-the-post system.

Electoral System

The unicameral Parliament of Dominica, the House of Assembly, is composed of 21 elected Representatives, in single-member constituencies through a first-past-the-post system. Of the remaining eleven members, nine are appointed by the President (five on the advice of the Prime Minister and four on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition); and two - the Speaker and the Attorney General - are ex-officio. The normal duration of the legislature is five years.

Background

Following independence in November 1978, political turmoil between the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) Government and opposition groups united in a Committee for National Salvation (CNS) plagued the country.  An interim CNS Government was formed on 25 June 1979, subsequent to a 25-day general strike. 

Political Parties & Candidates

Seventy-eight candidates including 4 independents contested the election. Major parties contesting the House seats were the conservative Dominica Freedom Party (DFP), led by Miss Mary Eugenia Charles; the DLP, headed by former Prime Minister Patrick John; and the newly formed Democratic Labour Party of Dominica (DLPD), led by Oliver Seraphine, the former CNS Prime Minister. 

Results

On polling day, the DFP gained a convincing victory, winning all but four of the Representatives' seats, whilst the ruling Dominica Labour Party lost all 16 seats after 19 years in office.  The DLP and won two seats, while the other two seats were won by independent candidates.

Voter Turnout

Voter turnout was 80.2%.

Post-Election

Observers ascribed the poor showing of the other parties to the political scandals of which they had been victims.  Charles became the Caribbean's first woman Prime Minister. 

There were two coup attempts early in the 1980s allegedly organised by factions of the Defence Force sympathetic to the John regime. In 1981, Patrick John was arrested and accused of conspiring to overthrow the Charles government.  In 1985, John was himself convicted of involvement in one such attempt and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment; the following year the former commander of the Defence Force was hanged for murdering a police officer during a coup attempt.