The use of discretion powers in 1964 in Guyana and 2001 in Trinidad and Tobago

Dec 21, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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In 2001, General Elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago, pitting the incumbent Mr. Basdeo Panday of the United National Congress (UNC) against Mr. Patrick Manning of the Peoples National Movement (PNM).
The elections were held under the constituency system and at the end, both of the main parties gained the exact number of seats, thus leading to the possibility of a hung legislature. An agreement was reached between the two leaders whereby in keeping with the constitution, the matter would be referred to the President whose decision the leaders agreed to abide.
The outcome one expected would have been that in keeping with political convention, the incumbent party would have been allowed to continue as the government but given the dead heat within the legislature would have to prepare for new elections to break the deadlock.
However, in an amazing decision, the President of Trinidad and Tobago ruled that he would have the opposition leader form the government and explained that in making this decision he was guided by moral and spiritual considerations. Just how these moral and spiritual considerations overruled political conventions was never fully explained but the end result was that Basdeo Panday whose government was in power had to give way to a new administration.
This amazing turn of events was however not the first time that conventions have been turned upside down following elections in which there was no outright winner. In 1964, convention was also upturned when the Governor of the then British Guiana decided to ask Mr. Forbes Burnham to form the post 1964 government.
In the 1964 elections, the Peoples Progressive Party secured the highest number of votes and the highest percentage of votes. However, under the elections held under Proportional Representation, the PPP failed to gain a majority i.e. over fifty per cent of the votes cast. The PPP won 109, 332 votes and the PNC 96, 567 votes and the United Force 26, 612. This translated to 45.8%, 40.5% and 12.4% respectively. No party therefore had on its own secured the majority needed to control the legislature.
The PPP and Dr. Jagan rightly held that convention dictated that the PPP be asked to form the government, since it had won the highest number of votes in the election. In fact, Dr. Jagan had preferred at the end of those elections to join with Burnham to keep the United Force out of the government. Burnham had other plans and he was prepared to join with the United Force to gain a majority within the legislature.
Jagan had a legitimate grouse over the manner in which the Governor dealt with the matter. Under convention he ought to have been given the opportunity to form the government. He was not. This was not unexpected since even before the elections the Governor had indicated how he would exercise his discretionary powers, a view that was condemned by the Commonwealth team of observers.
Convention however would have dictated that Jagan be given the option of forming the government since he was not just the incumbent Premier but also his party had won the most votes and consequently the most seats in the elections.
Jagan was however not given this option. Burnham was given this option since he had the backing of the United Force. In protest Jagan decided that he would not resign. This was a fairly reasonable and tactical position given the Governor’s break with convention. Had the convention been followed there would have however been a natural outcome. That outcome would have been that the PNC along with the United Force would have moved a no-confidence motion in the PPP government. The motion would have been successful since the UF and the PNC would have combined to be the majority in the legislature. Convention would then dictate that the PPP remove itself from office or call fresh elections.
This latter possibility is no doubt what the Governor was trying to avoid since there was no certainty that the PNC would win a majority in fresh elections. As such, the Governor opted to go for Burnham on the basis of the promised support of the United Force. There was still the problem however of Jagan who refused to resign as Premier.
An Order of Council was then moved in London thus allowing Jagan to be removed and facilitating the coalition government between Burnham and Peter d’ Aguiar.
That aside, what is of more significance is the exercise of discretionary powers held by the Head of State in the case of Trinidad and Tobago and the representative of the Crown colony in the case of British Guiana. In both instances these powers subject to established conventions, denied the UNC and the PPP the first lien on forming government in their respective countries.

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