THE RULES FOR BYE ELECTION

Obie Wilchcombe by most records becomes only the fifth Member of Parliament and third Minister of the Government to die in office since majority rule in 1967.  Uriah McPhee died in 1968.  He was a  member of parliament.  Clarence Bain was a minister and died in 1971. Shadrach Morris was a member of parliament and died in 1982. Chuck Virgil was a minister and died in 1997. Obie Wilchombe was a minister and died in 2023. Now comes a bye-election.  When the member dies in office, it must come to the attention of the Speaker.  The Speaker’s duty is to report the matter to the Governor General.  The Governor General then issues a writ for a new election in that constituency. It must be within a minimum of 21 days from the date of the notice to her and 30 days. There is a feeding frenzy going on behind the scenes jockeying for the seat which led the PLP to issue a statement asking people to cut it out.