The United Workers' Party is a centrist political party in Dominica, founded in 1988 by Edison James, Julius Timothy, Norris Prevost, Dennis Lebassier and others.
In the 1990 elections, the UWP won six of the 21 seats and became the official opposition party to the Eugenia Charles government. .
In 1995 it secured a narrow majority of 11 seats on a second-place vote share of 34.4 percent; its margin was strengthened by the acquisition of an additional seat in a by-election in August 1996, It returned to opposition after winning only 9 Assembly seats in January 2000, one of which was lost in 2005.
In December 2005 James stood down as political leader and was replaced by Attorney Earl Williams, Minister of Communications and Works in the last UWP administration. Williams resigned as party leader and leader of the opposition on 30 July 2008, following allegations of financial irregularities in the purchase of Dominican land for a U.S.-based investor. Ronald Green assumed leadership but failed re-election in December 2009.
In the wake of the UWP's poor showing In 2009, its three elected members boycotted parliamentary sessions, albeit to little avail. The speaker of the House ruled that the seats would be declared vacant after a boycott of three sittings, By-elections were held on 9 July 2010, for two of the three seats (the third dissident having temporarily ended his boycott), both of which were easily regained by the UWP.
Former Prime Minister Edison James, who assumed party leadership in January 2012, announced in mid-2013 that he would not seek re-election. The baton of leadership was passed to Lennox Linton, with Claudius Sanford as the deputy leader. The UWP's current Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly is Lennox Linton. |
