CONSTITUTION WATCH 2/2018
[25th September 2018]
Now elections are over Veritas is continuing its series of bulletins on implementation of the Constitution
Leader of the Opposition
On several occasions, according to reports, the President has offered the post of Leader of the Opposition to Mr Nelson Chamisa. Most recently, in an interview with an American news agency in New York, he is reported to have said:
“We are going to introduce the office of the leader of the opposition in Parliament. … Under the former administration, there was no formal recognition of the opposition leader but now under my administration, we are embracing the Commonwealth approach to parliamentary democracy where we recognise the leader of the opposition who is given certain conditions and perks in Parliament.”
The reports raise two questions:
Leader of the Opposition in Westminster-style Parliaments
In countries that have adopted the Westminster model of parliamentary government, the post of Leader of the Opposition is a semi-official parliamentary post given to the leader of the main opposition party or group in Parliament. The post is largely symbolic, but the symbolism is very important:
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