By Paul Chow
The Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Patrick Herminie, should seek proper legal advice before making statements or interpreting the Constitution, but not from the Attorney General Anthony Fernando, please.
Last week, Herminie put his foot in his mouth again, with an uninformed declaration. In a statement from the chair, broadcast all across the nation, he said that as a result of the resignation of Jean-François Ferrari, the elected Member for Mont Fleuri, the 23 SPPF members of the National Assembly now has a two thirds majority. This is a wrong interpretation of the Constitution.
According to Herminie because one of the seats has become vacant due to the resignation of its occupant, this has resulted in one member less in the National Assembly. Therefore, the number of members needed to make a two thirds majority is reduced by one. This means that the SPPF now has enough votes to achieve a two thirds majority even if the Speaker cannot vote. This is clearly¬ not correct. The majority needed to obtain two-thirds is based on a full House, not on a majority of members available in the debating chamber. There is logic to this. Otherwise, all the SPPF needed to do each time it wants to get a two thirds majority is knock off one or more SNP MNAs or lock them up somewhere so they cannot vote when the time comes.
Let’s take a look at what the constitution says. Article 91 (2) says that “A Bill to alter this Constitution shall not be passed by the National Assembly unless it is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the number of members of the Assembly ….” The critical words in this provision are “two-thirds of the number of members of the Assembly”. Not two thirds of the members present and voting.
How many members does the current National Assembly have? The answer is found in article 78 of the Constitution. It says that “The National Assembly shall consist of (a) such number of members directly elected …. (b) such number of members elected on the basis of the scheme of proportional representation specified in Schedule 4” Because the Electoral Commissioner has established that there should be 25 districts, the total number of members of the National Assembly comes to 34 when the formula for proportional representation is applied, based on the results of the last general election. Thus, by law the current National Assembly has 34 members. Two thirds is 22.67. Rounded up, it makes 23.
There are indeed 23 members belonging to the SPPF in the National Assembly. The problem is the Speaker is not allowed to vote unless there is a tie. So to obtain a two thirds majority of members of the National Assembly the SPPF must win over at least one SNP MNA, regardless of the number of seats that could have been vacant. One way of doing it, is to appoint an SNP member as Speaker. God knows how many will be prepared to take up the offer with so much at stake in perks etc.
If there is a need for a perfectly good and justifiable reason why the Constitution says that the document should read as a whole, this is it. Otherwise one runs the risk of making the same kind of uninformed interpretations as the Speaker and Attorney General Anthony Fernando are making.