NO longer an executive member of the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), while losing the recent race to be leader of the party to Aubrey Norton, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon is fighting to keep his seat in Parliament as his support base quickly dwindles outside and inside the party.

Harmon, at the recent PNCR Congress, secured 245 votes compared to Norton who scored 967.

Outside of the Georgetown Magistrates Court on Tuesday in support of Former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, who was released on $3M bail for the offence of alleged misconduct in public office, Harmon told reporters that Norton’s landslide victory will not affect his position as Opposition Leader.

“The aftermath doesn’t change anything basically, it’s the same decision as we had before is the same situation we have after, the fact of the matter is the Constitution provides for the position of the Leader of the Opposition and there is a process by which any change of that position can take place, and this is a constitutional process,” he told reporters.

He continued: “So the elections in the PNC/R does not change the setting, does not change the arrangement in Parliament itself; you will recall that the Leader of the Opposition is representative of over 280,000 persons who went to the electorate and voted, and so that is my mandate and the mandate of the leader of the PNC is a separate mandate altogether.”

This statement by Harmon is false as only 217,000 persons voted for the APNU+AFC in the 2020 General and Regional Elections which comprises several small parties and not the PNC/R alone.

Harmon also stressed that the leader of the PNC/R and the Leader of the Opposition is separate and both parties can work together.

However, in November last during the build-up to the PNC/R elections, Harmon had categorically stated that the Leader of the Opposition and leader of the PNC/R should be held by one person.

Tracing the history of the PNC/R, Harmon had noted that throughout, the leaders of the party were also always the Opposition Leader.

“There is a pattern of these two positions merging,” he had said during the campaign, noting that the two positions being held by the same person offers strength and power in moving the party ahead.

Harmon, on Tuesday, also told reporters issues of recalling Member of Parliament is dealt with constitutionally and this also involves representatives of the party’s list, along with a recommendation made to the National Assembly.

“I will only support a recall on the basis of performance of the MPs in Parliament. Right now I think the MPs are doing a great job. I think that they have performed well and they continue to perform and they have my support,” Harmon said

The Guyana Chronicle had previously reported that, in accordance with Article 184 of Guyana’s Constitution, there are a number of ways in which a member can be removed from the National Assembly, including a no-confidence provision for removing the Leader of the Opposition.

The provision, as reported previously, reads: “Where one-third of the non-governmental members of the Assembly represent to the Speaker that the Leader of the Opposition no longer enjoys their confidence, the Speaker shall call a meeting of all the non-governmental members at which it shall be decided whether the Leader of the Opposition shall be removed from office.”

The provision continues: “The removal shall be effected by the votes of a majority of all the non-governmental members.”

This means that if there is a PNC/R parliamentary shake-up, then persons in favour of Norton’s leadership could be positioned to account for that majority, which could eventually pave the way for him to ascend to the Opposition Leader’s chair.