Dec.10, 2009

A constituency parliamentary debate being planned by the Salisbury Enhancement Committee (SEC) Inc. on Thursday evening will allow the candidates for the 2009 General Elections to outline their plans for Salisbury, Coulibistrie and Morne Ratchette.

Bentley Royer of the Dominica Labour Party, Hector John of the United Workers Party and Nettisha Walsh of the Dominica Freedom Party have been officially invited by SEC to partake in the activity.

Walsh, who is 21-years-old, is the youngest candidate contesting the General Elections due on December 18.

Royer and John are first-time contenders in the General Elections race. John has replaced outgoing parliamentary representative Earl Williams as the UWP candidate, who is residing the U.S.  

The debate has been setup to take place in two phases. In the first phase the moderator will pose 10 questions to the candidates, representing the concerns of various sectors of the constituency. The questions will reflect issues or concerns related to sports, education, fishing, agriculture, the youth and general community development.  

In the second phase, constituents will ask questions of the candidates regarding their plans for their communities.

The activity will be held at the Salisbury Primary School from 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Candidates will be seated in random order, and the order in which the questions are posed will be rotated. This is not a competitive debate where a winner will be announced, as this event is merely intended to create a forum in which the various candidates can present their plans for the entire constituency.

The rules that have been settled upon so far are:

1. No political paraphernalia are allowed at the venue of the debate

2. All questions during the debate phase will be posed by the moderator

3. Candidates will be allotted two minutes to answer each question, after which the next candidate will speak.

4. Candidates are not expected to interrupt their colleagues

5. A second phase will allow for questions from the attendees of the debate

6. Total silence is expected throughout the course of the debate. Applause is strongly discouraged

7. Disruptive attendees will be escorted out of the room.