Governor General should set election date
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A cloud of uncertainty and stagnation hovers over the island of Nevis and its people and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) is calling upon the Governor-General to exercise his constitutionally-given authority to set a by-election date, especially since the Premier of Nevis has no authority so to do.
The CCM held a press conference yesterday (Sept 4) at the Red Cross Building in Nevis where members of the party addressed matters concerning governance, the recent ruling of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) and action which should be taken regarding the pending by-election or local election.
Deputy Leader of the CCM Mark Brantley – who also holds the position of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the Federal Parliament – is of the view that the court’s recent nullification of the election of the Nevis Reformation Party’s (NRP) Hensley Daniel has created a situation that only the Governor-General could address.
The effect is that with one of the five seats now vacant, with the CCM having two elected representatives and the NRP with two, according to Sections 47 and 48 of the land’s Constitution, a by-election must be held.
“The situation really is that we now have a two-two situation. And so all this bombast about being in charge, we have to ask the question, ‘What is the real constitutional position?”
“When we look at section 47 of the Constitution which speaks to the dissolution of Parliament and Section 48(2) says where the seat of a member of the Assembly falls vacant otherwise than by reason of a dissolution of parliament (a) if the vacant seat is that of a representative, a by-election shall be held…It says to fill the vacancy within 90 days of the occurrence of the vacancy unless Parliament is sooner resolved.”
Brantley explained that according to what he heard, Premier Parry is entertaining the notion that he possesses the power to call an island-wide election. He however noted that this notion is a misconception.
“I am not convinced that Joseph Parry - being a lame-duck premier with no majority in the House has any such authority. The Constitution - to my mind - is clear that where a seat becomes vacant otherwise than by dissolution of Parliament then a by-election is what needs to be held and that has to be done within 90 days. We have made it very clear...in the interest of stability we feel that a by-election should be held as soon as possible. We have suggested to the Governor-General and we have suggested publicly that 30 days is ample time within which we are to go to the polls.
“In relation to his power to dissolve Parliament and have a general election, Section 47 of the Constitution speaks to the dissolution of Parliament and it says that in the exercise of his power to dissolve Parliament, the Governor-General shall act in accordance with the advice it says of the Prime Minister, but we can read that to say the Premier.
“It goes on, however, provided that the office of the Premier is vacant and the Governor-General acting in his own deliberate judgment considers that there is no prospect of his being able within a reasonable time to appoint to that office a person who can command support of the majority of the elected members, the Governor-General shall dissolve Parliament.”
According to Brantley’s reasoning, there is a wealth of constitutionally-sound authority which suggests that because there is no one in the local Parliament who commands the majority of support from elected members, the Governor-General is obligated exercise his constitutional duty.
“…The person who is masquerading as our Premier at this point in time has no authority. We feel that it is for the Governor-General acting in the circumstances to set a date for the election, because there is no one who - in the opinion of the Governor-General - can possibly say he commands the majority. The best that Joseph Parry can say is he has the same number of members on his side as the Honoruable Vance Amory.
“…Again, I feel that a fair reading of the Constitution suggests that there has been, since the decision on Monday, a change in the composition of the Nevis Island Assembly in that Hensley Daniel is no longer there, has been removed by the court and told that he did not win. And that being the case, the Governor-General, in my view, must now exercise his own deliberate judgment.”
