LIKE A best man would, Basil Waite stood patiently with his father-in-law D.K. Duncan outside the Chamber of Parliament on Tuesday.

It was a special day for Dr. Duncan, who, 52 days after the September 3 general election, was last week declared winner of the Eastern Hanover constituency.

It would also be his first time sitting in the Chamber since 1983.

He had beaten Barrington Grey of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) after a lengthy magisterial recount.

Not long after Speaker of the House Delroy Chuck had called the House to order and Ronnie Thwaites had offered prayer, Dr. Duncan strolled forward to take the Oath of Office.

But many of his People's National Party (PNP) colleagues were not there to share the moment with him as they were late. In fact, only a handful of PNP members were in Parliament, the most senior of whom being Dr. Peter Phillips, Leader of Opposition Business. There was no sign of Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller and no sign of Opposition Finance Spokesman Dr. Omar Davies.

Nothing would stop the show

However, nothing would stop the show. After taking the oath, Dr. Duncan greeted Government members and Opposition members alike. He even took a seat for a moment beside Mike Henry on the Government benches, an action which led some Government ministers to say he was warming the seat for Barry Gray.

Everald Warmington suggested to Dr. Duncan that "you will be the shortest serving Member of Parliament in the history of this Parliament". To this Dr. Duncan smiled before heading off to take his seat on the Opposition backbench between Sharon Hay-Webster and Luther Buchanan.