On June 22, a procedural dispute erupted in Suriname’s National Assembly over the opening of a public budget session, pitting Assembly Speaker Ashwin Adhin against the largest opposition faction VHP over the legal validity of the sitting.
The VHP faction raised formal objections during the ongoing budget treatment proceedings, arguing that the session’s opening was procedurally invalid because Adhin had not signed the attendance register before gavelin the meeting in. The opposition claimed this omission cast legal doubt on the entire sitting’s legitimacy.
Adhin pushed back firmly against the claims in a written statement, noting that the body’s Rules of Order provide no legal basis for the opposition’s conclusion. He cited Article 31 of the rulebook, which explicitly states that the secretary-general must hand the attendance register over to the speaker once at least 26 members — the required quorum — have signed the document. At that point, the speaker is mandated to open the meeting immediately. The speaker confirmed that this core requirement was fully met when he called the session to order.
“The speaker opened the meeting at the exact moment the required number of members were present and had signed the register,” Adhin’s statement read. He emphasized that the attendance register functions primarily as an administrative tool to confirm quorum and for meeting record-keeping, not as a foundational requirement for the speaker’s authority to open or lead a sitting.
Adhin later added his signature to the attendance register during the session, pointing out that the same Article 31 allows the register to remain with the secretary-general throughout the sitting for late-arriving members to sign after the meeting has begun. According to the speaker, this means there was no procedural gap that could undermine the sitting’s legal validity.
He also rejected the opposition’s proposal to adjourn the current session and reopen the meeting from scratch. Adhin explained that such a step would legally invalidate all actions already completed during the sitting, including the opening address delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the government during the first stage of budget negotiations.
“That conclusion lacks any legal foundation,” the speaker stated. He added that identical procedural scenarios have occurred in previous assembly terms without any challenges to the legitimacy of the resulting sittings, noting that the handling of the situation aligns fully with long-standing parliamentary precedent in Suriname.
While Adhin acknowledged that every assembly member — including the speaker himself — is required by Article 31 to sign the attendance register, he clarified that this obligation is separate from the speaker’s legal duty and authority to open a meeting as soon as the required 26-member quorum is reached.
In response to Adhin’s defense, the VHP faction confirmed it will maintain its formal objections to the procedure but has agreed to continue participating in the ongoing budget treatment rather than boycotting the proceedings.