That immediately puts his seat into a play and a bye-election must be held within 90 days to fill the vacant post. The UDP is rearing to go with its standard bearer Omar Figueroa who was elected in February. The PUP on the other hand has not found a new standard bearer since Mahmud indicated he would not run again.

Attorney Michel Chebat and businessman Richard Harrison have declared an interest in the division - but the party will now have to move swiftly to have a convention and elect or endorse someone.

Indeed, the opposition has been caught off guard because in mid-October Mahmud said that he would serve out his term and not seek re-election. But something happened between then and this morning at 11:00 am, when he resigned with immediate effect.

A release from the Clerk of the National Assembly says that the Speaker has accepted his resignation - and so now the countdown to a bye-election starts. 90 days from today would put us at Monday February 23, 2015 - and so the bye - election must be held by then. But it can be held before. In fact, it can be held within just 15 days. The trigger is that a writ of election will be issued by the Governor General - and after that an election must be held within 15 to 21 days.

So now we must all wait and see when that writ will be issued; it can happen immediately or it could happen in February.

But whatever the date, a voluntary resignation by a sitting member of the House is a huge, historic deal. We say that because there have only been two previous bye-elections in the post-independence era; and both were forced. The first was to replace Derek Aikman in Freetown was forced by him being declared a bankrupt; the second, in Cayo South was forced by the death of Agripino Cawich. Again, both forced by circumstance, but this one is voluntary and it is a resignation - suggesting that Mahmud has no goodwill for his party - which we are reliably informed was not told of his decision - and found out about it second hand.

So, overall, the timing would seem to put the UDP at an advantage in an area that has been historically red - and which Mahmud only won with a 51% majority in the 2012 general election.

But the PUP sent out a statement today saying that it will fast-track the process of selecting a new standard bearer and is confident that it can retain the seat.

For the UDP - information to us suggests that the party is eager for the opportunity to get a heat check before the municipal elections in March of next year.