BREAKING NEWS: Judge rules Senate properly constituted

The Senate has been cleared to meet with just 18 members, High Court Judge Cecily Chase QC today ruled as she dismissed preliminary arguments in the constitutional motion brought by former Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite QC.

In a lengthy judgement, she deemed that the move by President Dame Sandra Mason who convened Parliament with 18 of the 21 Senators properly allows for the business of the Senate to be conducted.

“The business of each House of Parliament, and more importantly the Senate, is allowed to continue its business in light of or despite a vacancy or vacancies,” she said.

Brathwaite’s attorneys Garth Patterson, Q.C and Michelle Russell had asked the court to quash the decision of President Dame Sandra Mason to reconvene Parliament because not all 21 Senate seats were filled.

The missing three include the two that the opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) as the party with the second highest number of votes in the last elections was offered, and 18-year-old Khaleel Kothdiwala whose appointment had to be preceded by a change in legislation.