05/03/2021
“VOTE OF CONFIDENCE”
According to the Constitution, if the president feels that the prime minister has lost the confidence of the majority in the National Assembly, he convenes a meeting and asks the prime minister to take a vote of confidence.
The procedure is as follows:
• A bell is sounded for five minutes to ensure the presence of all makers in the House before parliamentary proceedings can begin.
• After this, all the doors leading to the Lobby are closed. No one inside is permitted to exit and no one from outside is allowed to enter.
• The Speaker then reads out the resolution pertaining to confidence in the prime minister before the Assembly and ask the members who wish to vote in favour of the resolution to pass in single file through the entrance where there will be "tellers" posted to record each member's vote.
• Each member shall reach a teller's desk and call out the "division number" allotted to them under the rules.
• The teller will then mark off the member's name on the division list while calling out their name. The member is required to stop and clearly hear their name being called out before moving off, so that their vote can properly be recorded.
• After their vote is recorded, they must leave the Chamber and not return until bells are rung once more.
• When the Speaker finds that all the members who wished to vote for the prime minister have recorded their votes, he shall declare that voting has ended.
• Subsequently, the secretary will collect the division list, count the recorded votes and present the result to the Speaker.
• Bells will then again be rung for two minutes to call back the lawmakers to the Chamber.
• Once they have returned, the result will be announced by the Speaker.
• After the result is declared, and a resolution for a vote of confidence under rule 36 is passed or rejected, the speaker communicates the result in writing to the President.