OPPOSITION NEEDED 34 VOTES INSTEAD OF 33

The Opposition needed 34 votes to have its No-Confidence motion against the Government passed. This did not happen and according to one Attorney, the Government was not defeated, however, he feels it can be resolved in the courts. Handell Duncan reports.

Prominent Attorney-At-Law – Nigel Hughes, is making the case that basically, the Opposition did not succeed in its No-confidence Motion against the Government. Hughes explained that his interpretation is strictly from a legal point of view. According to him, Article 106 (6)…..states that, “the cabinet including the president shall resign if the Government is defeated by a vote of majority by all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of confidence….”

Voting on a motion of Confidence or No-Confidence is unlike voting on other pieces of legislation brought before the house according to Hughes.

The Attorney at Law went further stating that whether the Government chooses to demit office and go to elections that a matter for the Government but, he needed to make that aspect of the Constitution public.

Hughes pointed to a similar matter in Anguilla, Hughes v Rogers. Civil suit 99 and 101 of 1999, where reference can be drawn. However, already, the Prime Minister, the leader of the Government’s business of the house has stated that the Government intends to abide by the decision.