(Trinidad Express) With a vote of 18 for and 12 against, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2014 was passed in the Upper House, Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain, last night.
The vote took place at 11.07 p.m.
The Government needed the vote of one Independent senator for the bill to pass.
It eventually got the support of three Independent senators.
The three Independent senators who supported the bill were Dr Rolph Balgobin, Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir and David Small.
The other six Independent senators, along with the Opposition Bench, voted against the bill. Clause Eight, which included the controversial Run-Off proposal, was passed with amendments during the Committee Stage of the Senate.
Clause Eight was passed with the same division as the Bill (18-12), with Balgobin, Mahabir and Small voting in favour of it. The bill passed after 30 hours of debate in the Senate, spanning three days.
Leader of Government Business in the Senate Ganga Singh described the passing of the bill as “the dawn of a new era”.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who moved the bill, said she was involved in the drafting of the bill.
During the wrapping of the bill, Persad-Bissessar said the Cabinet is currently considering bringing legislation for a fixed date for general elections.
The Constitution Amendment Bill was passed with several amendments.
On the run-off proposal, the original proposal had required a second poll between the winner and the runner-up (the top two candidates), in instances where the winner secured less than 50 per cent of the votes in the first poll.
The Senate accepted an amendment from Senator Dhansayar Mahabir to have the run-off round include a third candidate where that candidate secures 25 per cent of the vote or where the third candidate obtains vote amounting to 5 per cent less than the second runner-up.
It means that a candidate must win by over 50 per cent of the vote in a first poll,to be declared the winner. But, if there has to be a second poll in which there are three candidates, the winner can receive less than 50 per cent of the votes cast in the run off poll.
The Senate conceded that the new amendment would result this country’s electoral system being a hybrid system which mixes the majority system, which the run off system was originally meant to achieve, with a plural system.
On the recall provision, the Senate accepted an amendment from Senator David Small to raise the threshold from 10 per cent to 20 percent for a recall application to be approved by the Elections and Boundaries Commission. 2/3 of the constituents must support the recall petition before an MP can be recalled.
