Last Wednesday, the President and the Opposition Leader met to discuss the way forward, following the 21 December 2018 vote of no confidence in the Government. The outcome of the meeting was a positive one. Having committed themselves to respecting the Constitution and putting the public interest first, and recognizing ‘the high importance of continuous engagements between the Government and Opposition, the importance they hold for the national interest and the elevated public expectation’, the two leaders have agreed to the following:
(a) Holding of the general and regional elections, subject to the readiness of the
GECOM;
(b) Government would remain in office to ensure continuity in the delivery of
public services;
(c) The court’s intervention at the request of the Government would continue in
order to bring about clarity and resolution on the two issues raised. These
are: whether the number 33 constitutes a majority of the all the elected
members in the 65-seat National Assembly; and whether the vote of a
member of National Assembly who holds a foreign passport is a valid one in
the context of the vote of no confidence in the Government.
(d) Parliament would continue to function in the normal way, pending the
conclusion of the legal proceedings;
(e) Two representatives (one from each side) would be liaising with GECOM to
determine its readiness for holding elections.
Counting down towards elections, and GECOM’s readiness
Today marks the 24th day since the motion was passed in the Assembly. We therefore have a little over two months (66 days) within which to hold the elections. The Constitution provides for an extension of the deadline by two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the Assembly. This to a large extent would depend on GECOM’s readiness to hold elections within the 90-day deadline.
