The constitution does not say there cannot be collations after an election

Aug 01, 2014 Letters

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Dear Editor,
In an article in today’s newspaper Mr. Saphier Hussein declared that he is going to make “legal moves to block future ‘minority’ presidents”. To achieve this, Mr. Hussein proposes to make legal changes,[to the constitution an almost impossible task] that will pave the way for political parties to form collations and do away with the possibilities of a minority presidency.”
Actually Mr. Hussein is on the right track but he is walking in backward along it, since the constitution does not say that there cannot be collations after an election. Nowhere in article 177 does it say that this can’t happen, nowhere in article 177 does it say that a declaration of the candidate from any list whose party got the most votes in an election and who was declared by GECOM as the President, has the right to form the government. He must therefore, form a collation with one of the smaller parties so that he can have control of parliament and discharge the conditions of Article 9, which says sovereignty belongs to the people, sovereignty cannot belong to them when there is a minority government making decisions for the majority, as if they do not exist.
Mr. Editor, below is article 177 of the Guyana constitution which tells us how GECOM will declare the president after an election, and I dare anyone to tell me where it says that under the circumstance when the party’s leader with the most votes, but not more than 51% of the popular vote is entitled to form the government legally. It does not!  Therefore, the grounds for appeal are already there. And it is this: “Can a president who does not control the majority of the popular vote, hold the right, legally, to form a government to rule all of the people?’ The answer is simply no.
THE PRESIDENT
177. (1) Any list of candidates for an election held pursuant to the provisions of article 60 (2) shall designate not more than one of those candidates as a Presidential candidate. An elector voting as such an election in favour of a list shall be deemed to be also voting in favour of the Presidential candidate named in the list.
(2) A Presidential candidate shall be deemed to have been elected as President and shall be so declared by the Chairman of the Elections Commission––
(a) if he is the only Presidential candidate at the election; or
(b) where there are two or more Presidential candidates, if more votes are case in favour of the list in which he is designated as Presidential candidate than in favour of any other list.
(3) Where no person is elected as President under paragraph (2) and where the votes cast in favour of each list are equal in number, or where the votes cast in favour of each of two or more lists are equal in number by greater that the number of votes cast in favour of any other list, the Chairman of the Elections Commission, acting in the presence of the Chancellor and of the public, shall by lot choose one of the lists in respect of which the votes are equal in either of the circumstances aforesaid and shall declare the Presidential candidate designated in that list to be duly elected as President.
(4) The Court of Appeal shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question as to the validity of an election not a President in so far as that question depends upon the qualification of any person for election or the interpretation of this Constitution; and decision of that Court under this paragraph shall be final.
(5) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, Parliament may make provision for giving effect to the provisions of this Title and, without prejudice to the generality thereof, may make provision––
(a) for the conduct of elections to the office of President; and
(b) with respect to the persons by whom, the manner in which and the conditions upon which proceedings for the determination of any question such as is mentioned in the preceding paragraph may be instituted in the Court of Appeal, and, subject to any provisions made under subparagraph (b), provision may be made with respect to the matters referred to therein by rules of court.
(6) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (4), an instrument which––
(a) is executed under the hand of the Chairman of the Elections Commission and
(b) states that a person named in the instrument was declared elected as President at an election held pursuant to the provisions of article 60 (2),shall be conclusive evidence that the person so named was so elected and no question as to the validity of the election as the President of the person so named shall be inquired into in any court.
Again Mr. Editor simply being declared President is not enough to form a government, under these rules, he must have [as in all other countries where the common rules of constitutional law is established] seek control of parliament through collations with other parties to obtain the majority of the votes in parliament. Again I must point out that this constitution does not say that collations by the president who has been declared by GECOM, is not allowed to form a collation with one of the smaller parties to establish sovereignty of the people.
Mr. Hussein is right; this situation is one which is guaranteed to cause gridlock. But in forming a minority government, in ignorance of the law, an act of treason would have been committed against the people of Guyana.
Tony Vieira

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