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All 12 seats in the Tobago House of Assembly 7 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 50.20% ( 19.88 pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results map for the 2017 Tobago House of Assembly general election, where the following colours denote each respective party: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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House of Assembly elections were held in Tobago on 23 January 2017. The result was a victory for the People's National Movement, which won ten of the twelve seats in the Tobago House of Assembly. [1] [2]
| Constituency | Movement for Transformation | People's National Movement | Progressive Democratic Patriots | Tobago Forwards | Invalid ballots | Total | Electorate | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parlatuvier/L' Anse Fourmi/Speyside | 0 | 926 | 1,095 | 111 | 4 | 2,136 | 3,650 | 58.52% |
| Goodwood/Belle Garden West | 0 | 953 | 948 | 332 | 8 | 2,241 | 4,142 | 54.10% |
| Belle Garden East/Roxborough/Delaford | 14 | 949 | 1,261 | 34 | 3 | 2,261 | 3,741 | 60.44% |
| Scarborough/Calder Hall | 0 | 1,130 | 512 | 184 | 8 | 1,834 | 4,076 | 45.00% |
| Lambeau/Signal Hill | 0 | 1,185 | 424 | 372 | 11 | 1,992 | 4,343 | 45.87% |
| Bacolet/Mt. St. George | 0 | 1,157 | 425 | 191 | 12 | 1,785 | 3,683 | 48.47% |
| Canaan/Bon Accord | 0 | 1,188 | 547 | 197 | 5 | 1,937 | 4,000 | 48.43% |
| Buccoo/Mt. Pleasant | 0 | 1,291 | 319 | 266 | 9 | 1,885 | 4,363 | 43.20% |
| Bethel/Mt Irvine | 0 | 1,184 | 283 | 674 | 4 | 2,145 | 4,370 | 49.08% |
| Providence/Mason Hall/Moriah | 28 | 1,089 | 800 | 129 | 3 | 2,049 | 4,265 | 48.04% |
| Plymouth/Golden Lane | 0 | 1,012 | 493 | 434 | 10 | 1,949 | 3,857 | 50.53% |
| Black Rock/Whim/Spring Garden | 17 | 1,246 | 430 | 428 | 8 | 2,129 | 4,490 | 47.42% |
| Total | 59 | 13,310 | 7,537 | 3,352 | 85 | 24,343 | 48,490 | 50.20% |
| 0.24% | 54.87% | 31.07% | 13.82% | – | ||||
| Swing | New | 6.55% | New | New | – | |||
| Electoral District | Previous control | Subsequent control | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bacolet/Mt. St. George | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Belle Garden East/Roxborough/Delafor | PNM | PDP | ||||
| Bethel/Mt Irvine | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Black Rock/Whim /SpringTobago Council of the Garden | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Buccoo/Mt. Pleasant | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Canaan/Bon Accord | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Goodwood/Belle Garden West | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Lambeau/Signal Hill | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Parlatuvier/L'Anse Fourmi/Speyside | PNM | PDP | ||||
| Plymouth/Golden Lane | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Providence/Mason Hall/Moriah | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Scarborough/Calder Hall | PNM | PNM | ||||
| Source: EBC | ||||||
The politics of Trinidad and Tobago function within the framework of a unitary state regulated by a parliamentary democracy modelled on that of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, from which the country gained its independence in 1962. Under the 1976 republican Constitution, the monarch was replaced as head of state by a President chosen by an electoral college composed of the members of the bicameral Parliament, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Tobago is an island and ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast of the larger island of Trinidad and about 160 kilometres (99 mi) off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. It lies to the southeast of Grenada.
The People's National Movement (PNM) is the longest-serving and oldest active political party in Trinidad and Tobago. The party has dominated national and local politics for much of Trinidad and Tobago's history, contesting all elections since 1956 serving as the nation's governing party or on four occasions, the main opposition. It is one out of the country's two main political parties. There have been four PNM Prime Ministers and multiple ministries. The party espouses the principles of liberalism and generally sits at the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum.
The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) is a unicameral devolved legislative body responsible for the island of Tobago within the unitary state of Trinidad and Tobago. The THA was re-established in 1980 to rectify some of the disparities in the relationship between the two islands; a prior body of the same name existed from 1768 to 1874. In addition to the normal local government functions, the THA handles many of the responsibilities of the central government, but has limited ability to collect taxes and to impose local law or zoning regulations. At the helm of the Assembly Legislature is the Presiding Officer with the fifteen elected assemblymen, and four appointed councillors. Three of the councillors are appointed on the advice on the Chief Secretary and one on the advice of the Minority Leader. The Chief Secretary is the leader of the majority party in the assembly and is at the helm of the Executive arm of the THA.
Trinidad and Tobago elects its House of Representatives on the national level. The head of government, the prime minister, is chosen from among the elected representatives on the basis of his or her command of the support of the majority of legislators. The Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has two chambers. The House of Representatives has 41 members, elected for a maximum five-year term in single-seat constituencies. The Senate has 31 members: 16 government senators appointed on the advice of the prime minister, six opposition senators appointed on the advice of the leader of the opposition and nine so-called independent senators appointed by the president to represent other sectors of civil society. The president is elected for a five-year term by an electoral college consisting of the members of both houses of Parliament. Other elected bodies include the local government bodies in Trinidad and the Tobago House of Assembly, which handles local government in the island of Tobago and is entrenched in the constitution.
The Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) is an autonomist political party in Tobago formed in 2008. Its current political leader is Ashworth Jack. The party was formed in 2008 from a split with the Democratic Action Congress.
Elections to the Tobago House of Assembly have taken place every 4–5 years since its establishment in 1980. There are twelve electoral districts, each electing one representative. The People's National Movement has been successful in all five elections between 2001 and 2017. Between 1980 and 1996, parties achieving a majority were the Democratic Action Congress and the National Alliance for Reconstruction.
A local election for 12 seats in the Tobago House of Assembly was held on 21 January 2013. The election was a clean sweep by the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement, winning all 12 seats in the Tobago House of Assembly, the only time this feat has ever been accomplished in elections in Trinidad and Tobago.
House of Assembly elections were held in Tobago on 25 January 2021 where 12 members were elected in the eleventh election since the Assembly was established in 1980. This election marked the first time in history that both parties elected, the People's National Movement (PNM) and Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) won an equal number seats of 6-6, despite the PNM winning the popular vote, resulting in a deadlock and a constitutional crisis with both political parties and Prime Minister Keith Rowley seeking senior counsel advice on the way forward. This election was the first time after 20 years in power that the PNM lost its absolute majority. This election also marked the first time a female political leader was elected to the Assembly and the first time a woman led a major political party or a political party with representation in the Assembly, following the 2020 Tobago Council of the People's National Movement leadership election where Health Secretary, councillor and former Trinidad and Tobago Ambassador to Costa Rica and former Deputy Chief Secretary of Tobago Tracy Davidson-Celestine made history by being elected as the PNM's first female political leader at the regional or national level and one of the first bilingual political leaders in the country's history. If Davidson-Celestine and the PNM were to be elected with a majority to their sixth consecutive term in office, she would have made history, becoming the first female Chief Secretary of Tobago. The election was held alongside local by-elections in Trinidad in which the PNM and UNC retained two districts and the PNM losing one to the UNC.
The Chief Secretary of Tobago is the leader of the Tobagonian Government. The Chief Secretary chairs the Tobagonian Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Tobagonian Government policy. Additional functions of the Chief Secretary include promoting and representing Tobago in an official capacity, at home and abroad, and responsibility for constitutional affairs, as they relate to devolution and the Tobagonian Government.
Tracy Petulia Davidson-Celestine is a Tobagonian politician who is the former Secretary of Health, Wellness and Family Development, as well as a former Councillor in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) becoming one of the leading members addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in Tobago. She is the first female political leader in the THA, a defeated Chief Secretary candidate, the first woman to lead a Tobagonian party with representation in the House of Representatives and Tobago House of Assembly and one of the first bilingual political leaders in Trinidad and Tobago, as a result she has been popularly referred to by the nickname Boss Lady.
The Tobago Council of the People's National Movement, also known as the Tobago Council of the PNM, PNM Tobago or PNM Tobago Council, is the longest-serving and oldest active political party in Tobago. The party is the autonomous branch of the Trinidad and Tobago People's National Movement operating in Tobago. While its political leader acts in the local capacity, they also serve as a deputy leader on a national level. The party's executives organize for both local and national election campaigns. There have been three PNM Chief Secretaries and administrations.
The 2020 Tobago Council of the People's National Movement election were held on January 19, 2020. For the first time, a one member, one vote voting system was adopted for all 17 positions contested. The winner, Tracy Davidson-Celestine, the first female political leader for the party, will go on to contest the Chief Secretary position of the Tobago House of Assembly in the 2021 Tobago House of Assembly election.
Events in the year 2021 in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) is a political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Founded in 2016, it became the second-largest party in Tobagonian politics following the decline of the Tobago Organisation of the People. The party planned to contest the Trinidadian local election and every seat in the next general election, officially launching as a national party on 1 May 2022. It later provided a plan for Tobagonian independence.
The 2022 People's National Movement internal election, the last one for the PNM before the subsequent general election, took place over three days: November 26 and 27 and December 4, 2022. The current party leader and Prime Minister Keith Rowley had indicated he would most likely not seek to lead the party into the next general election. Rowley made these comments in his victory speech on the night of the 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election, where the PNM secured a second mandate under his leadership but with the slimmest majority for a government in two decades. However, he announced that he would seek another term as the party's leader in October 2022. In the 2020 general election campaign, he indicated that he would have stood down had the PNM lost. The election followed the 2022 Tobago Council of the People's National Movement leadership election. Keith Rowley won re-election by an overwhelming majority with a low voter turnout with 9,111 out of 105,894 eligible party members voting.
Snap House of Assembly elections were held in Tobago on 6 December 2021 to elect all 15 members of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). The election was called following a deadlock created by the January 2021 elections which resulted in a tie between the People's National Movement (PNM) and the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP), with both parties winning six seats. As a result, the number of seats in the legislature was increased from 12 to 15 to avoid ties.
House of Assembly elections were held in Tobago on 17 January 2005 to elect the twelve members of the Tobago House of Assembly. The Tobago Council of the People's National Movement won 11 seats with 58.02% of the vote, while the Democratic Action Congress won one seat with 40.41% of the vote.
House of Assembly elections were held in Tobago on 29 January 2001 to elect the twelve members of the Tobago House of Assembly. The Tobago Council of the People's National Movement won eight seats with 46.73% of the vote, while the governing National Alliance for Reconstruction won four seats with 38.44% of the vote. This election is the only time to date that the United National Congress participated in an election in Tobago.
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