In more recent times, there has been considerable debate about the power of the Prime Minister to dissolve the Parliament which is contained in the Constitution. While such a power no longer exists in the Westminster model since 2011, when the British Parliament enacted the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, other Commonwealth countries still have such a power available to their prime ministers.
At the opening of the Fifth Session of the current Parliament on August 4, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar told the House of Representatives of the intention of her Government to bring to Parliament legislation that would prescribe fixed dates for elections.In many respects, such legislation could resemble the reforms that have already been implemented at Westminster.
In T&T, we still operate under the provisions of the 1976 republican Constitution that were a virtual replica of the 1962 independence Constitution. The key to the life of any Parliament is the date on which its first sitting is held after any general election. That will determine the full count of five years for anniversary-date purposes, as opposed to using the general election date as the starting point.
On October 5, I had reason, in this column, to challenge former Cabinet minister Peter Taylor over his interpretation of the Constitution in respect of the holding of a general election.
Last Sunday, the comments made by the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Keith Rowley, at the PNM Convention, seemed to resemble the comments that had been made by Peter Taylor in his newspaper commentary on the same subject. The Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan, was quick to challenge Dr Rowley in order to set the record straight.
The actual words used by Dr Rowley were: "Let me tell the Prime Minister, the parliamentary term ends in June 2015, the five-year term of the Government ends on May 24, and the period between the second week of June and September is only for emergencies."
It was surprising that Dr Rowley could have had such an interpretation put into his speech by his speechwriter and that the error was not caught by those who would normally vet such speeches before he made the public delivery last Sunday. As a consequence, the error is now charged to him and not those who assisted him in preparing his speech.
The Constitution is clear on the issue of the dissolution of Parliament and the holding of general elections. Sections 68 and 69 make the following specific provisions:
"68.(1) The President, acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, may at any time prorogue or dissolve Parliament.(2) Subject to subsection (3), Parliament, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for five years from the date of its first sitting after any dissolution, and shall then stand dissolved."
"69.(1) A general election of members of the House of Representatives shall be held at such time within three months after every dissolution of Parliament as the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, shall appoint."
These provisions are crystal clear and they have been used many times over the years in relation to the holding of general elections on dates that occurred later than either the previous general election or later than the fifth anniversary of the date on which the previous Parliament first sat.
The classic case of the longest period between a dissolution and a general election took place in 1976, when the Parliament sat until its last day on June 18, having been convened on June 18, 1971. There was controversy at the time as to whether Parliament could be convened on the anniversary date of its fifth year.
Nevertheless, Dr Williams subsequently advised that a general election should be held on Monday, September 13. In every respect, that scenario could be repeated in 2015, as there was no emergency in 1976.
Other occasions where this extended period has occurred, in relation to the next general election being held on a date later than the previous one or later than the fifth-anniversary date of the Parliament, took place in 1981, when the general election was held on November 9, which exceeded the five-year date on which the previous Parliament had been convened on September 24, 1976 (which actually became our Republic Day, to commemorate the first sitting of the First Parliament of the Republic).
In 1986, the general election was held on December 15, which fell beyond the fifth-anniversary on which the previous Parliament first sat on November 27, 1981.In 2000, the general election was held on December 11, which fell beyond the fifth-anniversary of the date of the first sitting of the previous Parliament on November 27, 1995.Likewise, a general election was held on November 5, 2007, which exceeded the fifth anniversary of the previous Parliament, which first sat on October 17, 2002.
In none of these cases was there any emergency which caused these general elections to be held on these dates which exceeded the fifth anniversaries of the previous Parliaments.