APPENDIX C : (Item 4 on the Agenda )

LEGAL OPINION OF PARLIAMENT’S LEGAL SERVICES OFFICE

02 JUNE 2004


SUBJECT: Leader of the Opposition


1.In your email dated 27 May 2004 you urgently requested our Office to advise on the following:

a) what "Leader of the Opposition" in section 57(2) (d) of the Constitution means and whether or not he or she, for example, could be regarded as the leader of all the opposition parties in the Assembly; and

  1. whether our law regards the largest minority party in the Assembly as the "official opposition"


Leader of the Opposition


2. Section 57(2)(d) of the Constitution stipulates that the rules and orders o1 the National Assembly must provide for "the recognition of the leader of the largest opposition party in the Assembly as the Leader of the Opposition".


3. National Assembly rule 21 accordingly defines the Leader of the Opposition as the "leader of the largest party in the Assembly that is not in government"


4. While Assembly rule 60(a) provides, inter alia, that the leader of the largest minority party shall not be restricted in regard to the length of time he or she may speak during an Assembly debate, neither the Constitution nor the Rules confer any other powers or privileges on the Leader of the Opposition.


5. As both the Constitution and Assembly Rules refer to the Leader of the Opposition as the "leader of the largest party", it is our view that he or she may not be regarded as the leader of all the opposition parties in the Assembly.


Whether our law regards the largest minority party in the Assembly as the "official opposition"

  1. Neither the Constitution nor the Assembly Rules refer to 'an "official opposition". Furthermore, we are not aware of any other current national legislation or regulations that refer to the "official opposition". It is thus our view that our law does not regard the largest minority party in the Assembly as the ''official opposition".


Adv M R Vassen /Mr M D Ramurunzi

Parliamentary Legal Advisers