Parliament to close late, reopen in New Year [1]
Friday, December 11, 2009 - 19:54. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
By Pesi Fonua
THE Tongan parliament will close quietly late this year and reopen early next year without the usual fanfare, as members continue to deliberate the report of the Constitution and Electoral Commission.
The Speaker, Hon. Noble Tu'ilakepa said on Wednesday, December 9 that the House would conclude its deliberation on the Final Report of the Constitution and Electoral Commission at the end of next week, and break for Christmas before restarting early in the New Year to vote on some of the recommendations of the Commission.
The Commission's final report was presented to the King and to the Legislative Assembly as scheduled on November 5, and was made available to the public on November 9.
The report consists of more than 80 recommendations on how to structure a new system of government for Tonga. From November 5, the government and the parliament have a year to structure a new government, and since November 18 the house has been in session, sometimes late into the night.
interpretation
The fundamental problem right from the start, was a different interpretation of the role of the Commission, which was established under an Act that was passed by the House.
Most of the People's Representatives believe that the government and the House should simply accept the recommendations of the Commission; but the government and some other members of the House believe that it was their responsibility to look at the recommendations, and use those which were appropriate to structure a more democratic system of government for Tonga.
Since the evening of November 18 the House has been debating over the Commission's recommendations. Minute No. 61 from the evening of December 9, (the last minute that was published by the House to date) showed the House was in disarray and they were jumping from one recommendation to another. The big question as the House is about to break for Christmas, remains "will it be possible to have an election under a new system of government in November 2010?"