Donaldson Romeo (born 1962) is a

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

from Montserrat. He is currently a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Montserrat The Legislative Assembly is the legislature of Montserrat. A unicameral body, it has nine elected members. History The Legislative Assembly was established following the promulgation of a new constitution in 2011, replacing the Legislative Counc ...

and served as the island's Premier from September 2014 until November 2019. Having formerly worked as an artist and a journalist, he was first elected to parliament as an independent candidate in 2011.

Biography

Romeo was born in

Salem, Montserrat Salem is the most populous town in Montserrat, a British overseas territory in the West Indies, situated on the western coast of the island, in St Peter Parish. Salem was evacuated after the 1997 volcanic eruptions on the island but has since b ...

in 1962. He attended Salem Primary School and

Montserrat Secondary School The Montserrat Secondary School, often referred to for short as MSS, is the only pre-16 years of age secondary school on the island of Montserrat. The school's campus is currently located in Salem. Prior to 2004 it was responsible for Montserrat ...

, before becoming a pupil at the

George School George School is a private Quaker (Society of Friends) boarding and day high school located on a rural campus in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania ( Newtown postal address). It was founded at its present site in 1893, and has grow ...

, a boarding school in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Although he started studying medicine at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

, he returned to Montserrat after a year to help his father with his hardware business.Donaldson Romeo
Montserrat Democratic Party In 1984 he moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, where he became an artist. He was served with a deportation order, but after gaining support from MPs Ken Livingstone and John Carlisle and the National Portrait Gallery, his order was overturned. After the court case, Romeo returned to Montserrat and continued working as an artist before rejoining his family's hardware firm. Following the eruption of

Soufrière Hills The Soufrière Hills are an active, complex stratovolcano with many lava domes forming its summit on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. After a long period of dormancy, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995 and has continued to ...

in the mid-1990s, he became a journalist.

Political career

Romeo was a candidate for the Montserrat Democratic Party in the 2006 general elections. He ran in the

2009 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2009. * Electoral calendar 2009 * 2009 United Nations Security Council election Caribbean * 2009 Antiguan general election * 2009 Aruban general election * 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendu ...

as an independent, and was elected. In 2011, Romeo became Leader of the Opposition and served in that role until September 2014. On 30 April 2014, Romeo established the

People's Democratic Movement The People's Democratic Movement is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded by Paias Wingti in 1985, after his faction left the Pangu Party. Wingti served as prime minister from 1985 to 1988 and from 1992 to 1994. He was later rep ...

(PDM) in order to contest the upcoming elections. The September 2014 elections saw the PDM win seven of the nine seats in the Legislative Assembly, becoming the ruling party."People’s Democratic Movement(PDM) to form next Montserrat government"
. Government of Montserrat In October 2019, he was voted out as the leader of the PDM party and was replaced by the island's Minister of Communication and Works Paul Lewis. Romeo subsequently left the party and contested the 2019 Montserratian general election as an independent candidate. In November 2019, Romeo was reelected and thus continues to have a seat in the island's Legislative Assembly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romeo, Donaldson 1962 births Living people Premiers of Montserrat Members of the Legislative Council of Montserrat Leaders of the Opposition of Montserrat Montserratian artists Montserratian journalists Montserrat Democratic Party politicians People's Democratic Movement (Montserrat) politicians