THE chances of Parliament being recalled were dismissed by Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, yesterday.Speaking during his weekly post-Cabinet press conference, he made it clear that the next step, relative to the happenings of the 10th Parliament will be dissolution, via a proclamation by President Donald Ramotar.
He said: “There couldn’t conceivable be, at this stage in the electoral calendar, with the naming of the date for election, some mysterious sort of occurrence of returning to the days of the 10th Parliament. I think it would be consistent with logic for all of us to be contemplating the date for dissolution of the 10th Parliament and the President’s announcement of that date.”
Concerns over why the dissolution of Parliament, which currently stands prorogued, have been bandied about since President Donald Ramotar’s Tuesday night announcement of May 11 as Elections Day.
However, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, made it clear that the two announcements do not have to be made simultaneously.
“There is absolutely no obligation on the President to dissolve Parliament at the same time when a date for National Elections is announced,” he told the Guyana Chronicle in an invited comment.
Nandlall explained that the two announcements can be made together, but it is not an absolute necessity that they must be.
He added that the Constitution states clearly that elections must be held within three months of the dissolution of Parliament.
By that logic, given that Elections Day is on May 11, the dissolution proclamation by the Head of State can possibly be made after February 11th – considering that February 11th to May 11th marks three months and elections must be held “within three months” of the dissolution of Parliament.
“Parliament has to be dissolved on a date within that three-month timeframe,” Nandlall said.
Once the proclamation of dissolution is issued preparations for the next Parliament – the 11th Parliament – will commence.
The new 65 Members, relative to representation in the House, will be decided based on the outcome of the upcoming General and Regional elections and who those individuals are will be based on the names submitted, via a Candidates List submitted on nomination day, by the contesting political parties.
The 10th Parliament was convened on January 12, 2012.

(Vanessa Narine)