Manning says he dissolved Parliament to protect gov't from opposition slander

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning said on Friday he is in no hurry to set an election date, noting that under the country's constitution he has until July 8 to hold the vote.

The Parliament was dissolved at midnight Thursday on the advice of the prime minister. Manning said he shut down the legislature to prevent the opposition from slandering his government using the protection of the Parliament.

According to parliamentary tradition statements made in the legislature are protected by privilege and the media are free to report on proceedings from both Houses of Parliament with the same protection.

However, if the same statements are made outside they are subject to legal action.

Now Manning has threatened the opposition with legal action if it makes some of the statements that it had planned on making during the co confidence debate that was scheduled for Friday.

Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Thursday called Manning a coward for dissolving the Parliament to pre-empt the no confidence motion.

She called his move an admission that he has been a "colossal failure" and said she and her political colleagues will expose Manning's misdeeds, which include the mismanagement of the economy, the failure to deal with crime and corruption, the breakdown of social and physical infrastructure and the UDeCOTT fiasco.

She pledged to make it a public affair to allow the people, not Parliamentarians, to pass judgment on Manning.

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There is speculation that Manning will set the election date at a political rally scheduled for Monday. The opposition is launching its campaign at Marabella in South Trinidad the same day.

The earliest date for the vote is May 17, which allows 14 days to nomination day and 21 days to the election.

Manning is under no obligation to name the date any time soon. And he is free to run the country as he did in 2002 without any accountability to the Parliament.

He can also use all the resources of the state to inform and educate the population of what his government has been doing.

While use of state funds for such propaganda might appear unethical, it is legal.

Manning did it for nine months in 2002 before calling a general election, which he went on to win with a clear majority.