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Future of MPs holding dual citizenship uncertain following High Court ruling

Feb 01, 2019 News

 

A Supreme Court ruling, which hinged on the issue of Parliamentarians holding allegiance to foreign States, is set to have significant bearings on the operations of the National Assembly.
During a historical ruling yesterday Chief Justice,(Ag) Roxane George made it clear that by swearing allegiance to another State, an MP is not eligible to be elected to serve in the National Assembly. She said that it is in breach of the constitutional provisions applicable to Members of Parliament (MPs).
Her ruling was in response to questions posed by Compton Reid, a private citizen, who challenged the no-confidence motion against the Government on the grounds that expelled Alliance For Change (AFC) parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud, who voted with the Opposition, has Canadian citizenship— by virtue of his own actions.
The decision however is applicable to other Members of Parliaments holding dual citizenship in the National Assembly
Attorneys-at-law, Anil Nandlall and Sanjeev Datadin, both of whom argued the case filed against Persaud, told the media of consequential effects such a decision can have on other Members of the National Assembly. Given the ruling, the lawyers noted that the future of MPs holding dual citizenship may be uncertain.
Nandlall pointed out that in a scenario where the life of the Parliament should be extended, the decision can have dire effects for persons in that peculiar position.
“Let us assume that we have to extend the life of parliament for whatever reason because these ruling persons who are in that peculiar circumstance should not be sitting in the Parliaments.
And this has nothing to do with elections. Of course, at an election, leaders of the lists must henceforth have to ensure persons placed on those lists comply with the constitutional provisions as it relates to dual citizenship.”
Datadin noted too that while the ruling does not apply to his client, it does apply to dual citizens who are no longer a member of the House.
“As Mr. Nandlall mentioned before, there might be cause to extend the life of Parliament and I’m not sure those who hold dual citizenship can come back to Parliament when that vote will be taken because they wouldn’t be validly there any longer.”
On this basis, Datadin said too that he is unsure how many of MPs will have to be removed.

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