The Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) is a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

. It shares much of the same socially and economically conservative principles as the Conservative Party in the UK. The party has been led by Bernard Hurtault since 2021.

History

The founders of Dominica Freedom Party in 1968 included

Eugenia Charles Dame Mary Eugenia Charles (15 May 1919 – 6 September 2005) was a Dominican politician who was Prime Minister of Dominica from 21 July 1980 until 14 June 1995. The first female lawyer in Dominica, she was Dominica's first, and to date only, fem ...

, Elkin Henry, Anthony Moise, Eustace Francis, Robert Allfrey, Phyllis Allfrey, E. C. Loblack, Edward Scobie, Loftus Roberts, Antony Agar, Star Lestrade and Martin Sorhaindo. The DFP was led by Dame

from 1972 until 1995. She became Prime Minister in 1980 and served until her 1995 retirement. Following her resignation as party leader and the defeat of the DFP in the 1995 elections by the United Workers' Party, she was succeeded by Brian Alleyne. In 1996, Charles Savarin became the leader of the DFP. He had presided over the continuing decline of the DFP following the 2000 general election. Despite this the party still holds a degree of influence due to its accommodation with the DLP government. Even after losing all its seats and the DLP winning enough seats to form a government on their own, the DLP leader and prime minister,

Roosevelt Skerrit Roosevelt Skerrit (born 8 June 1972) is a Dominican politician who has been Prime Minister of Dominica since 2004; he has also been the Member of Parliament for the Vieille Case constituency since 2000. Regionally, he has served as the chairman o ...

appointed Savarin as a senator and gave him the key post of

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. Many members of the DFP have criticized Savarin for his continued support for their erstwhile foes, the DLP. During the previous elections held on 31 January 2000, the party won two of the 21 popularly elected seats with 13.6% of votes cast. The party subsequently joined a coalition government with the

Dominica Labour Party The Dominica Labour Party is a centre-left social-democratic political party in Dominica. History Founded in 1955 by Phyllis Shand Allfrey and Emmanuel Christopher Loblack, the Dominica Labour Party is the oldest political party in Dominica. ...

(DLP), with the DLP not having enough seats to form a government on their own. The party lost all of its seats in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

at 2005 general election, held on 5 May 2005. This was the first time since 1975 that the DFP was not elected in any seats. The party garnered 3.15% of votes cast. However on 5 August 2007 a new executive was elected, with businessman Michael Astaphan being elected as political Leader. In 2022 Dominican general election, DFP decided to boycott the election., which in result

secured 19 out of 21 seats. In recent years, the DFP has expressed concerns over national issues. For example, they have been vocal about the impact of the UK's decision to impose travel restrictions on Dominican nationals, linking it to alleged issues with Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment Program (CBI). The party criticized the current administration's management of the program and called for immediate action to address the concerns raised by the UK and other nations.

Leadership

, 1972-1995 * Brian Alleyne, 1995-1996 * Charles Savarin, 1996-2007 * Michael Astaphan, 2007-2008 * Judith Pestaina, 2008-2012 * Michael Astaphan, 2012-2017 * Kent Vital, 2017-2021 * Bernard Hurtault, 2021-

International affiliations

The Dominica Freedom Party is affiliated with the Caribbean Democrat Union and the

International Democrat Union The International Democracy Union (IDU; known as the International Democrat Union until September 2023) is an international alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 fu ...

Electoral history

House of Assembly elections

References

{{Authority control Political parties in Dominica Conservative parties 1960s establishments in Dominica