Who controls next parliament?

Accra, Dec. 10, GNA - Mr Abraham Ossei-Aidooh, Majority Leader in Parliament, has said the likelihood of two different parties separately controlling the executive and legislature in the next Parliament was a "novel situation".

He said parliament was not an appendage of the executive because both arms of government were governed by elected officers chosen separately through universal adult suffrage. Reacting to questions from the GNA on a possible scenario of the ruling NPP party controlling the executive and the opposition NDC controlling the legislature, Mr Ossei-Aidooh said it was good for the oversight functions of parliament.

The Electoral Commission will announce the outcome of the December 7 Presidential and Parliamentary elections on Wednesday afternoon, but there are strong indications that the NDC was likely to control majority of the parliamentary seats.

On the implications for government policies and programmes should the two major parties separately control the two arms of government, the Majority Leader said there would be the need for compromise. He said the government in power would then have to be a listening government and there should then be "nationally oriented policies". On the question of which party then nominates the next Speaker of Parliament, given the above scenario, Mr Ossei-Aidooh said it was the collective decision of all 230 members in parliament to choose the Speaker through voting.

He said conventionally it was the majority leader whose party dominated parliament who nominated the Speaker. He said although the minority in parliament could also nominate a candidate for the position of the Speaker as done previously by the NDC in nominating the late Mr Peter Ala Adjetey in 2005, however, it was possible that the NDC could be the one choosing the next Speaker in 2009, when it came to majority votes.

Mr Ossei-Aidooh, however, said being the majority in parliament could also come about if two or more parties came together to form a majority. 10 Dec. 08