Dear Editor,
Now that the majority in the National Assembly spoke on December 21, 2018, we seek to offer an explanation on what constitutes a majority as prescribed by Article 106 of the Constitution and what is the meaning of “greater than” as we seek to expose the recent “arithmetic amorality”.
In the constitutional context, the term majority acquires its precise meaning in Article 106 (6) which states “The Cabinet including the President shall resign if the Government is defeated by the votes of the majority of all elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of confidence”.
So the questions to ask are – Were all 65 elected members present and voted? (YES). Is the word SHALL equal to MUST in this context (YES)?
So if that is the case, did a vote of the majority take place to command the APNU+AFC Government that it must resign forthwith? This question then begs another question – what constitutes this majority?
The Collins Dictionary defines a majority as “more than half”, “the greater part of”. The etymology of the word “majority” corroborates that it was first used in 1550 by the French when they try to message a condition of “being greater than” when comparing things. The French further explained themselves with the phrase “la majorité des électeurs” which means the majority is absolute. To shed light on this concept of absolute we reflect on how the largest democracy in the world conducts itself with respect to what is a majority.
In the Indian Parliament, they define this absolute majority as more than 50% of the total membership of their house. Their house has 545 voting members. The methodology they use in certifying an absolute majority is that they rounded up the total amount of 545 to 546 and then took 50% of that to derive the absolute majority, which we submit as the mathematically accurate position. Under no circumstances should the rounding up take place at the halfway mark.
In Guyana’s case, an absolute majority is 50% of the total voting members rounded up from 65 to 66. Basic arithmetic will reveal that 50% of 66 is 33. So it is clear that Mr. Nigel Hughes has bungled his interpretation of the arithmetic and that is understandable; his forte is not mathematics.
Then there is the concept of “greater than”. Is 33 greater than 32? Clearly, 33 and 32 are not equal. Elementary arithmetic teaches us that 33 is a larger quantity than 32 and therefore is a majority.
But to guide us on this concept let us reflect on scriptures. In the King James Bible in 1 Chronicle 12:29 it says, “And of the children of Benjamin, the kindred of Saul, three thousand: for hitherto the greatest part of them had kept the ward of the house of Saul.” That same verse was interpreted in the Christian Standard Bible as “From the Benjaminites, the relatives of Saul: 3,000 (up to that time the majority of the Benjaminites maintained their allegiance to the house of Saul).”
It is clear that the majority is the greater part of the many parts and that, 33 is the greater part of and is an absolute majority of 65. All this arithmetic gibberish of a half man and rounding up at the 32.5 mark is nothing else but subjective fiction; not objective facts.
However you twist it or turn it, the absolute majority of 65 is 33.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Asquith Rose
Sasenarine Singh
Charles Sugrim
Mike Persaud
