First session of 10th Parliament opens today

The opening ceremony of the first session of the 10th Parliament takes place this afternoon, amidst promised protest action from supporters of the New Democratic Party (NDP).{{more}}

The ceremonial opening begins at 4 p.m. at the Assembly Chamber in Kingstown and will see the election of a Speaker and Deputy Speaker and the swearing in of the Members of the House of Assembly.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has announced his intention to nominate Jomo Thomas, the Unity Labour Party’s (ULP) candidate for South Leeward in the December 9 general elections, as Speaker of the 10th Parliament, replacing Hendrick Alexander, who had served in that position since 2001. Carlos James, the ULP’s candidate in North Leeward, will be nominated as Deputy Speaker.

The Opposition NDP, which had originally said their members would not attend Parliament to be sworn in, has not indicated if they intend to nominate anyone for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

James will also be one of four senators to be nominated by the ULP in the new Parliament. The others are the ULP’s East Kingstown candidate Luke Browne; Deborah Charles, who contested the General Elections in the West Kingstown constituency; and ULP general secretary Julian Francis.

The other ULP members who will be sworn in as members of parliament are representative for North Central Windward Dr Ralph Gonsalves; member for Central Leeward Sir Louis Straker; member for North Windward Montgomery Daniel; member for West St George Cecil McKie; member for South Central Windward Saboto Caesar; member for South Windward Frederick Stephenson; member for East St George Camillo Gonsalves and member for Marriaqua St Clair Jimmy Prince.

On the Opposition side, those to be sworn in are NDP leader and member for East Kingstown Arnhim Eustace; member for the Northern Grenadines Godwin Friday; member for Central Kingstown Major St Clair Leacock; member for the Southern Grenadines Terrence Ollivierre; member for West Kingstown Daniel Cummings; member for North Leeward Roland ‘Patel’ Matthews; and member for South Leeward Nigel ‘Nature’ Stephenson.

Also of interest at today’s ceremony would be the revelation of the two persons the NDP intends to name as senators. In the ninth Parliament, the two senators were Dr Linton Lewis, who ran in East St George in the December 9 poll and Vynnette Frederick, the public relations officer of the party.

Following the announcement of the results of the December 9 poll, the NDP took to the picket line to protest the results. They are alleging irregularities in the Central Leeward constituency and had initially said that the party’s members would not turn up to Parliament to be sworn in. However, in a statement issued on December 21, Eustace said members would be sworn in, as to do otherwise would be to put the seven seats which the party now holds at risk.

The NDP is in the process of preparing an election petition to challenge the results in the Central Leeward constituency. The petition must be filed by Thursday, December 31.