Opposition Leader Bruce Golding says the Green Paper on Constitutional Reform, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, is "deficient and misleading".

Mr. Golding said in a release on Wednesday that, while there were a number of fundamental provisions on which agreement had been reached between the Government and Opposition, there remained disagreements that must be resolved before enactment can proceed.

Replacing the Queen

Among the issues the Government proposes to proceed with enactment are the appointment of a president to replace the Queen as Head of State, as well as adjustments to the composition of the legislature and procedures for appointments to executive and judicial posts.

In relation to the appointment of the president, Mr. Golding said that while it has been agreed that the appointment of the president should be subject to the approval of a two-thirds majority of both Houses of Parliament, the Government proposes that the vote should be taken with both Houses sitting jointly, while the Opposition insists that they should vote separately.

"For 35 of the 45 years since Independence, governments (both JLP and PNP) have held such an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives that even in joint session with the Senate they would still have commanded more than a two-thirds majority, thereby placing the appointment of the president within their control," he said.

"That would defeat the agreed intention as reiterated in the Green Paper, that the Head of State should be chosen by a process that will enable the holder to symbolise the sovereignty and unity of the nation, and to be vested with certain specific responsibilities ex officio that need to be exercised without any suspicion of partisan political considerations," he added.