Today’s occurrence in the National Assembly is disappointing as the APNU/AFC opposition squandered an excellent opportunity for us to usher in an era of enhanced political cooperation and consensus.

As President, I had hoped that the elections of a Speaker and Deputy Speaker for the National Assembly would have resulted from genuine dialogue rather that the product of some pre-arranged deal between the two opposition parties.

The APNU/AFC collaboration today also goes against the convention in parliamentary democracies where the Governing Party with the largest amount of votes and seats secures the Speaker of the National Assembly. This gross violation of an established convention is not a healthy development in this new dispensation.

Even today I took the initiative of contacting the Leader of APNU David Granger reminding him of the convention and my Party’s willingness to facilitate an accommodation of supporting an opposition nominee as Deputy Speaker. This was rejected.

It must be recalled that when the PPPC had an outright majority over the combined opposition, we were magnanimous by allowing the Opposition to hold the position of Deputy Speaker based on our respect for parliamentary democracy.

As President of the Republic I intend to monitor the situation in the National Assembly very closely.