PNM leader Keith Rowley has misinterpreted the Constitution and made incorrect, irresponsible statements on the general election process, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said yesterday.
“It is important that I correct the reckless and irresponsible statements made by the Opposition Leader regarding the provisions in the Constitution that govern the general election process,” said Ramlogan.
Ramlogan noted that Rowley, speaking at last Sunday’s PNM Convention, declared that the current five-year term of People’s Partnership government ends on June 17, 2015 and that the subsequent 90-day provision for calling election could only be used in cases of emergencies. Ramlogan, however, said: “Rowley demonstrates an astonishing and disturbing failure to grasp the basic rules of the Constitution. It is yet another display of his constant disregard for the law.
That a prime ministerial aspirant could so easily misrepresent the Constitution for selfish political gain is troublesome. “In his usual haste to exert unnecessary political pressure on the Government to call election, Dr Rowley again traps himself in yet another embarrassing and humiliating intellectual quagmire from which it is becoming increasingly difficult to extricate himself. His inability to understand and interpret even the basic structures of the Constitution acts as a truly powerful and frightening reminder that he is simply not fit to lead in any capacity.”
Saying the Constitution is clear on the timelines for calling a general election, Ramlogan said Section 68(2) states that Parliament stands dissolved five years after its first sitting—which in this case is on June 17, 2015—and a general election must be held within 90 days thereafter.
Ramlogan said: “This means the next general election can and must be held at any time prior to September 17, 2015. “This 90-day provision has nothing to with ‘emergencies’ as erroneously claimed by the Opposition Leader. This period was designed to allow the Prime Minister a degree of political flexibility in setting the date. It also permits the EBC and political parties time to put the necessary administrative arrangements in place to facilitate the election. “This provision has been a part of our election process since Independence and was retained in our Republican Constitution. “Dr Rowley appears to suffer from political amnesia, as he conveniently ignores the fact that almost every single past Prime Minister has utilised this 90-day provision to call general election, including Dr Eric Williams and George Chambers (1981, 1986) to Basdeo Panday (2000) and Patrick Manning (2007).”
Ramlogan asked: “If Dr Rowley applies his flawed logic to his own election as a Member of Parliament, the following questions arise: did he also question the nature of the ‘emergencies’ in the general elections of 2000 and 2007, both of which occurred within the 90-day period, and in which he was twice elected as an MP? “If indeed there were no such ‘emergencies,’ does this mean that his own election as a Member of Parliament was null, void and unconstitutional, twice?”