The Law Reform (Zones of Special Operations) Bill was defeated in Parliament last night after failing to secure the required three-fifths majority.
While all 16 Government Senators supported the legislation, eight Independent Senators joined six Opposition Senators in voting against it. Independent Senator Courtney McNish abstained.
The Bill needed the support of at least four Independent Senators to pass, a threshold it ultimately failed to reach.
Reacting to the outcome, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she was not surprised by the Bill’s defeat.
Speaking with Guardian Media, she claimed the result would please drug traffickers and gang members, and said the vote confirmed her concerns about the Independent Senators.
She added that their actions had caused “irreparable” damage to their credibility.
Opposition Leader Penelope Beckles-Robinson welcomed the Bill’s collapse, saying it demonstrated that democracy remains strong in Trinidad and Tobago.
She said she was proud of Opposition Senators for standing up for the public.
Former Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley also weighed in, stating that constitutional safeguards had functioned as intended by preventing what he described as a flawed crime-fighting proposal from becoming law.
In a Facebook post, Dr Rowley said the intervention of Independent Senators protected the country from the dangers of militarized policing and criticized the Prime Minister’s response to the Bill’s defeat, warning that the proposal could have destabilized the nation.
