Independent Liberal Party (ILP) Leader Jack Warner says Government will not bring the runoff provision before the House of Representatives but will revert to the first-past-the-post system for the upcoming general election.
Warner said government’s decision to blank the runoff hinges on a poll the UNC had done, which showed that the controversial runoff provision, if proclaimed, could work in favour of the People’s National Movement and not the People’s Partnership Government at the polls, which will be held, at latest, by September.
Having filed a lawsuit last year against the Attorney General to get the runoff provision in the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2014 revoked, Warner said this was another issue that was preventing the Government from bringing the matter before the House. The ILP challenged that the bill was an infringement of citizens’ fundamental rights listed in Sections 4 and 5 of the Constitution.
In last week’s Sunday Guardian, PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley said if the general election should be called today, the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) would be caught off-guard as it would not know what system of voting should be used. On Thursday, Warner said it was passing strange that six months after the bill was passed in both the Upper and Lower Houses, it had not come back on the parliamentary agenda for amendments.
“They (Government) thought the runoff would have helped them win the upcoming election. But right now nothing will help this Government. “I don’t take anything Moonilal says anymore. Anything Moonilal tells you, he does the opposite. I don’t think they will bring it back in the House. It was a whole facade.”
Warner said if they brought back the bill, it would be far too late for the EBC to put its house in order. “They would need a lot more time to put their house in order. “The EBC hardly has enough time to handle the first-past-the-post of voting far less for the new system of voting.”
Moonilal dismisses Warner’s claims
But Leader of Government Business Dr Roodal Moonilal dismissed Warner’s statements, insisting that the amendments to the bill would be considered in due course. Moonilal, in dismissing Warner’s claim, said he was seeking to distract attention from his “collapsing ILP party.” “Mr Warner complains that the Government tries to rush legislation. Now he joins Dr Rowley in saying we are giving the Parliament too much time to study critical amendments.”
Moonilal also trained his guns on Rowley, who he said was trying to deflect public attention from his party’s internal conflict. “He (Rowley) has problems in San Fernando East, Arima and with Louis Lee Sing.” When in Opposition, Moonilal said, the PNM strategy was to target and attack independent institutions such as the EBC. “How Rowley knows about the business of the EBC? “What connection he has to the EBC to make statements about the readiness of the EBC?”
Moonilal said Rowley was unfit to be the Opposition Leader.
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Chairman of the EBC, Dr Norbert Masson, in a Newsday article last December called on Government to clarify if and when proposed legislation introducing a runoff mechanism would be made law. Contacted on Wednesday, Masson said there was nothing new on the matter since his raising the issue in the print media. “The status quo persists. There is nothing further that I could say or add,” Masson said, refusing to comment further.
Last August, legislation proposing a runoff procedure was passed in the Senate and House of Representatives, but it now requires one final procedural motion before it can be sent by Cabinet to President Anthony Carmona for proclamation. The runoff legislation also contains provisions for term limits for prime ministers and a right of recall of MPs. In relation to the runoff, only people who obtain more than 50 per cent of votes cast will take a seat in the House of Representatives.
Failing this, a “supplementary poll” or runoff is to take place between the top two candidates and possibly a third candidate if that third candidate comes within five points of second place. Days before voting on the bill, protesters for and against the bill clashed outside Parliament with the police. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar challenged the electorate to vote out the PP Government if they did not want the bill.