ELECTIONS HELD IN DOMINICA ---

WILL THE ELECTIONS CHANGE THE WAY OF LIFE ON THAT ISOLATED AND REMOTE ISLAND?

OR IS THIS JUST A COVER FOR SOMETHING FAR BIGGER THAN INTERNATIONAL CRIME RINGS AND THE REV. SUN MOON AND HIS WORLD WIDE CULT OF MOONIES?

"If you elect Rosie Douglas, then the Moonies will come in and our Christian way of life - the good way of life - all that will disappear," James warned.

Jan 31, 2000 - 02:16 AM

Elections Held Amid Controversy Over Passports Sales in Dominica By Michelle Faul Associated Press Writer

SINEKU, Dominica (AP) - Rocking to a blaring calypso tune promising "We'll bring prosperity," government supporters in Dominica rallied on the eve of elections fraught with charges that the government is corrupting the island's image by selling passports to foreigners.

The charges have angered Prime Minister Edison James, whose United Workers Party is seeking a second term. James said there was no evidence that "economic citizens" - people sold passports for $50,000 - were criminals. Many of those sold passports have been Russian, Chinese, or Americans seeking tax shelters.

Like several Caribbean countries, Dominica started selling passports under programs linked to offshore banking centers in the early 1990s, as aid from traditional donors dried up and the banana industry collapsed under a U.S. challenge to preferential trade rules.

Concern has grown among citizens of Dominica - a former British colony in the southeast Caribbean not to be confused with the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic - since Canada detained several Chinese carrying Dominica passports on suspicion they were involved in an immigration smuggling ring.

The prime minister's party has tried to focus attention on its record of building new homes, schools and roads, as well as economic growth of 3.5 percent last year.

About 60,000 people were registered to choose 21 legislators in what was expected to be a close contest today. Results were expected late tonight or early Tuesday, and the leader of the party with the most seats becomes prime minister.

"What the government is doing with the rampant selling of passports to criminals and criminal gangs all over the world is to eventually establish Dominica as a center for international crime," said Bernard Wiltshire, a leader of the opposition Dominica Labor Party. "International gangs would control our government from behind the scenes to subvert the independence and freedoms of our people."

The Labor Party dominated politics here from 1961 until 1979. Fearing a comeback by the opposition party, James repeated charges Sunday that Labor leader Rosie Douglas had met with leaders of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church and would allow them to return to Dominica.

They were expelled two years ago from several Caribbean countries that saw the South Korea-based church as a cult.

"If you elect Rosie Douglas, then the Moonies will come in and our Christian way of life - the good way of life - all that will disappear," James warned.

He spoke in Sineku, in the northeast Carib Territory of native Indians who are a poor minority in a poor country. Bused-in islanders at the rally waved the prime minister's blue party flags to show their support.

AP-ES-01-31-00 0214EST

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGI95PHQ34C.html