A release from Speaker of the House of Representatives Wade Mark Monday said Mark would declare the Chaguanas West seat vacant at the next sitting.
Jack Warner resigned as MP for Chaguanas West effective at midnight on Friday April 26. However at that sitting Mark did not declare the seat vacant. Once the seat a official vacant a bye-election must be held not later than 90 days from that date.
Jack Warner resigned as MP for Chaguanas West effective at midnight on Friday April 26. However at that sitting Mark did not declare the seat vacant. Once the seat a official vacant a bye-election must be held not later than 90 days from that date.
The release from Parliament communications manager, Jason Elcock, confirmed that Mark received Warner's resignation on Friday, April 26, 2013.
It noted that Section 69 (3) of the Constitution states that where a vacancy occurs in the House of Representatives within the first four years of the life of the Parliament a by-election shall be held to fill such vacancy, not later than 90 days from the date of the announcement by the Speaker of the vacancy."The Honourable Speaker of the House shall make an announcement of the vacancy that has occurred in the House of Representatives, under the agenda item, ‘Announcements by the Speaker’ at the next sitting of the House of Representatives.”
Warner is not waiting for that. He has already started his campaign for re-election and has stated that he wants to run for the UNC again. However, the party has not determined if it would nominate him.
Officials have told JYOTI it would hurt the party's credibility if it were to nominate Warner especially based on the circumstances under which he has resigned his three seats - members of cabinet, UNC chairman and MP.
Some UNC supporters on Internet chat groups and blogs are suggesting that the UNC should run former Oropouche West MP Mickela Panday against Warner. But the party told JYOTI it has not made any decision on the matter of the bye-election since the matter must be addressed by the party's National Executive (NATEX).
The opposition People's National Movement (PNM) has said it will run a candidate in the election. In 2010 Warner received more than 18,000 votes and the PNM candidate got around 1800. The Congress of the People has expressed an interest in running a candidate.
The seat was held by the UNC so it is unlikely that both the UNC and COP would have candidates. The coalition would have to decide whether to let COP run a candidate if the UNC decides not to nominate Warner again.
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