Parliament members' lists updated

THE Parliament has updated the lists of members of the House of Representatives and Senate to reflect the outcome of the April 28 general election.

The UNC won the election with 26 seats, the PNM retained 13 and the Tobago People's Party (TPP) won the two Tobago constituencies (Tobago East and Tobago West).

Checks on the Parliament's website shows the new members of the House and Senate are listed.

Included in the former are the UNC's Roger Alexander, Michael Dowlath and Clyde Elder; the PNM's Hans Des Vignes, Kareem Marcelle and Christian Birchwood and the TPP's Joel Sampson and David Thomas.

They are all new MPs who were elected in the constituencies of Tunapuna, San Fernando West, La Brea, Diego Martin West, Laventille West, Laventille East/Morvant, Tobago West and Tobago East.

Former MPs who unsuccessfully contested the election (such as Esmond Forde and Roger Monroe) or who did not stand for re-election (such as the UNC's Rudranath Indarsingh, Rodney Charles and Arnold Ram) have been removed from the list of current members of the House.

The list of senators only includes UNC government senators at this time.

This is because these people were appointed as senators and government ministers or parliamentary secretaries on May 3.

They will be sworn in as senators when the Senate holds its first sitting for the new parliamentary term after the election

These people include John Jeremie (Attorney General), Ravi Ratiram, Anil Roberts, Prakash Persad, Dominic Smith, Eli Zakour, Dr Natalie Chaitan-Maharaj, Leroy Baptiste, Kennedy Swaratsingh, Satyakama Maharaj and Phillip Edward Alexander.

Under the Constitution, there are 16 government, six opposition and nine independent senators in the Senate.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has chosen 11 government senators to date.

She has five more senators to select and two of them will not be ministers or parliamentary secretaries.

This will be to allow these two, in accordance with the Senate's standing orders, to be appointed Senate president and vice-president when the Senate first sits.

Former UNC senator Jayanti Lutchmedial-Ramdial is reportedly tipped to be Senate president.

Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles-Robinson is still to choose the PNM's six opposition senators.

Beckles-Robinson has said these senators will be a blend of youth and experience. She has not ruled out former PNM MPs who lost in their constituencies in the election, being chosen as senators.

Under the Constitution, President Christine Kangaloo appoints these senators on the advice of the opposition leader (Beckles-Robinson).

Kangaloo has to select the nine independent senators, in accordance with her responsibilities under the Constitution.

At a post-Cabinet news conference at the Red House, Port of Spain on May 8, Persad-Bissessar said the Parliament will hold its first sitting later this month.

This event will be a ceremonial opening of Parliament where all MPs and senators will be sworn in, the presiding officers for the House and Senate will be chosen and Kangaloo will address a joint sitting of the House and Senate.

No legislation is debated by either the House or Senate on the opening of a parliamentary term.

Former UNC senator Wade Mark is reportedly being considered to be the new speaker of the House.

Mark served in this role from June 2010-September 2015.

No date has been set for Parliament's opening as yet.

The website shows no order papers have been filed to date for either the House or Senate.