Change is inevitable
The Editor:
It was intriguing to see that the Constitution Amendment Bill was passed with several amendments. I believe that the independent senators did what they were rightly appointed to do. They made several key changes to the bill that would definitely please most people, including those that didn’t support the bill in the lower house.
One of the major changes was that originally, the run-off proposal, required a second poll between the winner and the runner-up (the top two candidates), in instances where the winner secured less than 50 per cent of the votes in the first poll.
The Senate accepted an amendment from Senator Dhansayar Mahabir to have the run-off round include a third candidate where that candidate secures 25 per cent of the vote or where the third candidate obtains vote amounting to 5 per cent less than the second runner-up.
I believe that change is inevitable. It was very democratic for the government to take heed to the voices of those independent senators who contributed to the amendments.
Marvin McDonald
via email