PORT-OF-Spain, (CMC) -- The Prime Minister and President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago were engaged in an unfolding high-stake political drama yesterday over the dissolution of Parliament and conduct of a snap general election on December 10.

Within an hour of Prime Minister Basdeo Panday informing an assembled media corps that he had requested President ANR Robinson to dissolve Parliament for a December 10 poll, Robinson was making public his request to Panday to "stay his advice" pending a report he has asked from the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC).

But as it turned out later in the day in developments between President House and Whitehall, office of the Prime Minister a stone's throw away from each other around the famous Queen's Park Savannah in Port-of-Spain, Panday had already said no to Robinson's verbal request when they met briefly earlier in the day.

Political observers here were speculating over another likely confrontation as Panday and Robinson were releasing the text of the correspondence exchanged between them on the Prime Minister's request for dissolution of Parliament and the President's request for Panday to "stay" that request until he was informed of the preparedness by the EBC of its readiness for early election.

The independent EBC, which conducted the last general election on December 11, 2000 that Panday's incumbent United National Congress (UNC) won with a 19-16 majority in the 36-member House of Representatives, had recently announced that it would have the revised electoral register ready by the end of this month and would be in a position to conduct a snap poll should it be called.

But as Panday was informing Robinson why he could not accede to the request to "stay his hand" on dissolution of Parliament, the President was sending a letter to the chairman of the EBC, Oswald Wilson, saying he would be grateful if he could be provided with a report on the EBC's preparedness for a new general election and in particular the status of the revised electoral register.

According to one leading constitutional lawyer here, it would be "very difficult for the President to ignore the Prime Minister's request for dissolution of Parliament, made in accordance with the Constitution, and particularly with any confirmation of the EBC's capacity to conduct a snap general election".

The EBC's position is that it requires some five weeks notice to have an electoral roll ready before a new election. The December 10 date announced by Panday, which will mean new election exactly one year after the 2000 poll, effectively gives the EBC eight weeks to conduct the proposed snap poll.

Panday, in confirming the President's original verbal request when they met for him to "stay his hand" on the call to dissolve Parliament, said in his later written response he had informed Robinson that:

"Having regard to the existing anxiety in the nation and the potential for political instability, I am not prepared to acquiesce to your request".

Other key players, at a different level, in this political/constitutional drama such as opposition leader Patrick Manning, whose People's National Movement (PNM) won 16 seats at the last election, and Panday's former Attorney General, Ramesh Maharaj, were locked in separate caucuses with colleagues assessing the implications of the Prime Minister's sudden announcement of an election date.

Just more than a week ago Manning and Maharaj, as well as two other former UNC cabinet ministers had teamed up in a strategic "accommodation" with the intention of removing Panday's government, without passage of a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

Their publicly stated plan was to get the President to consider exercising his judgement, in accordance with the Constitution, in appointing Manning as the new Prime Minister to form an alternative government now that Panday's UNC had been reduced to a 16-20 minority in the House of Representatives.

But no such formal request was made to the President and there is now speculation about the survival of the PNM-Maharaj 'alliance' or `accommodation' for the announced December 10 poll.

By seizing the initiative for a snap poll, Panday has effectively torpedoed three developments.

These are:
** The planned filing of a motion tomorrow by the opposition to remove Speaker of Parliament, Rupert Griffith, for breaching the rules of the House when he failed last Friday to acknowledge a call for division before announcing `adjournment to a date to be fixed';

** the cases before the courts to unseat UNC parliamentarians Winston 'Gypsy' Peters and William Chaitan for failing to declare their dual citizenship on Nomination Day for the last election, are now of academic interest; and

** jeopardising the planned initiative by the PNM and ex UNC rebel three from being in a position to manoeuvre to have the President considering the possibility of appointing a new Prime Minister.