THE Electoral College – which comprises all members of the House of Representatives and the Senate – on Thursday rejected a motion filed by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar for the appointment of a tribunal to investigate the removal of President Paula-Mae Weekes from office.

Persad-Bissessar’s motion was in relation to events that led to the collapse of the Police Service Commission (PSC) last month and the failure to send a merit list of candidates for a commissioner of police (CoP) to the House for consideration.

Under Section 36 (1) (c) of the Constitution, a two-thirds vote of the members of both Houses of Parliament is needed to approve the motion.

This number equates to 48 votes. The Government has 37 members in the House and Senate combined, while the Opposition has 25. The nine independent senators, Annisette-George and Senate President Christine Kangaloo complete the membership of the college.

Government and the Opposition each had one member absent from the meeting of the college: Tunapuna MP Esmond Forde and Mayaro MP Rushton Paray. At the earlier sitting ot the House held for Persad-Bissessar to present her motion, Annisette-George said she had granted leave of absence from the sitting to both men.

At the end of the college’s meeting (during which members either voted yes. no or abstained when their names where called by the chairman, Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George, the Opposition fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve the motion.

She announced the motion had been defeated by a vote of 47 against and 24 for. All 24 UNC parliamentarians present voted for the motion. The 36 government parliamentarians present voted against.

Also voting against the motion were the nine independent senators, Annisette-George and Kangaloo to complete the 47-vote tally that saw it defeated.

Section 36 of the Constitution also states that when such a motion is defeated, the Speaker must inform the President immediately of this development. The Opposition cannot refile the motion during the current parliamentary session.

Similar to events in the earlier sitting of the House, held for Persad-Bissessar to present her motion, opposition parliamentarians continued to complain that Persad-Bissessar was not allowed to read her motion to the college, their microphones were being muted and they were being denied their right to debate the motion.

There were loud howls of protest from Opposition parliamentarians during the roll call of college members, when Independent Senator Charrise Seepersad (sister of former PSC chairman Bliss Seepersad) said she was present.

St Augustine MP Khadijah Ameen led a chorus of protests from opposition MPs that Seepersad’s presence was a conflict of interest. Ameen called on Annisette-George to rule on whether Seepersad should recuse herself from the meeting.

Annisette-George reminded Ameen and other Opposition MPs that she had given that ruling in the House minutes earlier and would n