Dominica: United Workers Party’s public meeting in Wesley draws little to no crowd

Dominica: A United Workers Party (UWP) public meeting held in Wesley on Monday, June 29 drew a noticeably poor turnout, with those in attendance appearing to consist largely of party officials, candidates and supporters rather than members of the wider public. The meeting, which began in the evening, saw only a few people while the camera coverage largely avoided showing the size of the audience.

The crowd allegedly remained indifferent and remained silent throughout the two hour long meeting.

The meeting formed part of the UWP's campaign efforts in the Wesley constituency ahead of the next general election. UWP candidate Ja Francois addressed those gathered by introducing himself to residents and reflecting on the constituency's previous parliamentary representatives, including Jerome Beck, Peter Carbon and Ezekiel Bazil.

UWP Political Leader Dr Thomson Fontaine also addressed the gathering and repeated the same accusations including the power outages. He further raised concerns over water supply reliability, garbage collection and the condition of the Roseau hospital, which he described as "a leaking monument."

The meeting was intended by the party to serve as a show of momentum ahead of the next general election as well as the anticipated Roseau North by-election. However, the limited turnout has raised questions as to whether the UWP's message is reaching the wider public in Wesley or largely just the party's existing base.

Notably, this is not the first time the United Workers Party has experienced a low turnout at a public meeting. On Friday, June 27, the party also held a public meeting at Tarish Pit, where attendance was similarly limited. During that event, the UWP officially introduced Danny Lugay as its candidate for the anticipated Roseau North by-election but the live video shared on their official Facebook account showed no more than just 10 members from the public.

The back-to-back meetings, both marked by relatively small crowds, have raised further questions about the party's ability to generate wider public support and build momentum ahead of the upcoming electoral contests and showcases people’s lack of trust and support for them.