The legal, constitutional implications of a hung parliament

In this thought piece I suggest that occasionally our constitution does whisper in its silence, and one must listen carefully. Sometimes it gives the impression that it speaks in tongues too. I suspect it is because our constitution may not be well understood even amongst the learned that a few friends in the legal fraternity and some former members of the executive have asked me to share my opinion publicly on the above subject matter and answer some practical and specific questions that may arise in the event none of competing political parties manages to win an outright majority of 31 seats and form a government on its own, in the coming elections. A situation when no political party wins a majority in Parliament is called a hung Parliament.

This opinion rests mainly on the textual provisions of both the Presidential Elections Act and the constitution - and concedes they may be scope, as may be permissible, to utilize the constitutional conventions or practices arising out of our colonial history or heritage – although this is heavily contested.