WIN threatens Court action against Speaker over non convening of meeting to elect Opposition Leader

The We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, which is the main opposition party in the National Assembly has dispatched a pre-action letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, warning that failure to convene a meeting within 14 days to elect the Leader of the Opposition will result in legal action. Through their attorney, Siand Dhurjon, the 16 WIN Members of Parliament, told the Speaker in the letter that there is nothing stopping him from convening a meeting of the Opposition Members of Parliament to elect a Leader of the Opposition, which is a Constitutional position. The Attorney said the Speaker needs to take all steps necessary to convene a meeting among the non-governmental members of the National Assembly for the purpose of electing the Leader of the Opposition under Article 184 (1) of the Constitution within 14 days. His failure to do so could lead to proceedings in the High Court, the Attorney warned. Dhurjon said during the first sitting of the 13th Parliament on November 3, the Speaker was written to on the issue by the members of WIN, and a request was made for a meeting to be convened the very day to elect the Opposition Leader, but to no avail. He said based on a verbal exchange between MP Natasha Singh-Lewis and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, the Speaker while indicating that the meeting would not have been held on November 3, reportedly said “it doesn’t have to wait until the next sitting.” To date, no such meeting has been held. Dhurjon, in correspondence to the Speaker, said there was nothing stopping him from calling the meeting. “It should be noted that there was no impediment to your convening such meeting on 3rd November 2025 as all of the non-governmental Members of Parliament were present at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre and lingered long after the sitting in the building for political and social purposes,” Dhurjon wrote. MP Singh-Lewis, he said, had also written the Speaker subsequently, requesting an update, however, there has been no response. Dhurjon said the Leader of the Opposition is a key constitutional officeholder, who has a number of important constitutional responsibilities under the law. “It is inconceivable that the Constitution could have ever contemplated that your unqualified and mandatory obligation under Article 184 (1) of the Constitution could be unduly delayed to some uncertain time in the unknown future,” Dhurjon said. He urged the Speaker to act promptly with all reasonable speed commensurate to the importance of the public functions of the Leader of the Opposition. Calls to the Speaker of the National Assembly by News Source today were futile. However, the Clerk, Sherlock Isaacs told News Source that he was not informed of the latest correspondence from WIN. Isaacs said a date has not been set for the next Sitting of the National Assembly, and he was unable to indicate whether a date had been set for the convening of a meeting to elect the Leader of the Opposition.