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.
The United National Congress is one of two major political parties in Trinidad and Tobago and the current parliamentary opposition. The UNC is a centre-left party. It was founded in 1989 by Basdeo Panday,a Trinidadian lawyer,economist,trade unionist,and actor after a split in the ruling National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). After spending six years in opposition,the UNC won control of the government in 1995,initially in coalition with the NAR and later on its own. In the 2000 general election,the UNC won an absolute majority in the Parliament. In 2001,a split in the party caused the UNC to lose its parliamentary majority and control of the government. From 2001 to 2010,the UNC was once again Parliamentary Opposition party. In May 2010,the UNC returned to government as the majority party in the People's Partnership. The UNC's Political Leader,Kamla Persad-Bissessar,was sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Kamla Persad-Bissessar was Prime Minister from 2010 until 2015.
Basdeo Panday is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian lawyer,politician,trade unionist,economist,actor,and former civil servant who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001. He was the first person of Indian descent along with being the first Hindu to hold the office of Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. He was first elected to Parliament in 1976 as the Member for Couva North,Panday served as Leader of the Opposition five times between 1976 and 2010 and was a founding member of the United Labour Front (ULF),the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR),and the United National Congress (UNC). He served as leader of the ULF and UNC,and was President General of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers' Trade Union.
Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo is one of the nine regions of Trinidad and Tobago,and one of the five regions which form the Gulf of Paria coastline on Trinidad's West Coast. Its regional capital and commercial center is Couva. Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo is the third-largest of Trinidad and Tobago's nine regions,with an area of 723 square kilometres (300 sq mi). As of 2011,the population was 178,410. The region is the second-most populous and fourth-least-densely populated region in Trinidad with 247 inhabitants per square kilometre (640/sq mi).
General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on 5 November 2007. Nomination day was 15 October. Five parties contested the elections;the ruling People's National Movement,the official opposition United National Congress–Alliance,the Congress of the People,the Tobago United Front–Democratic Action Congress and the Democratic National Assembly. Five independent candidates also ran.
Keith Christopher Rowley is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian politician serving as the seventh prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago,first elected into office on 9 September 2015 and again following the 2020 general election. He has led the People's National Movement (PNM) since May 2010 and was Leader of the Opposition from 2010 to 2015. He has also served as the Member of the House of Representatives for Diego Martin West since 1991. He is a volcanologist by profession,holding a doctorate in geology,specializing in geochemistry.
Camille Robinson-Regis is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian lawyer and politician,representing the People's National Movement. She was first elected as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for Arouca South in 1992 and is the current Member of Parliament for Arouca/Maloney. She is the Minister of Planning and Development,the Lady Vice-Chairman of the People's National Movement,and the Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives.
General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday,10 August 2020,to elect 41 members to the 12th Trinidad and Tobago Republican Parliament. It was the 14th election since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1962 and the 22nd national election in Trinidad and Tobago ever. Tracy Davidson-Celestine,political leader of the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement (PNM) became the first woman to lead a Tobagonian political party with representation in the House of Representatives. Additionally,two of the three largest parties elected in 2015,the United National Congress (UNC) and the Congress of the People (COP),were led by women.
The Tobago Council of the People's National Movement (PNM),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 2020United National Congress internal election was held on Sunday,6 December 2020,after Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar,the current leader of the UNC,faced losses commencing in January 2013 with the wipeout of her People's Partnership-led administration from the Tobago House of Assembly at the 2013 election,loss in the 2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election and loss in the 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election. The candidates for political leader were incumbent Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Team Star against former member of parliament for St. Augustine and former Minister of Trade,Industry and Investment in the People's Partnership's government,Vasant Bharath,on Team Lotus. Former senator and Minister of Transport in the People's Partnership's government,Devant Maharaj,was an early candidate for political leader,but was never formally nominated as he dropped out on nomination day on the 15th of November 2020,citing irregularities in the voting process. He endorsed Vasant Bharath and Team Lotus. Kamla Persad-Bissessar won with of 87.15% of the votes,while Vasant Bharath got 12.85% of the votes.
Stuart Richard Young is a Trinidad and Tobago politician and attorney,representing the People's National Movement (PNM). He has served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for Port-of-Spain North/St. Ann's West since the 2015 general election. He is the current Minister of Energy and Energy Industries and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister. Young has previously held the posts of Minister of National Security,Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs and Minister of Communications.
The 2022 People's National Movement internal election, the last one for the PNM before the 2025 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 of 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.
Arima is a parliamentary electoral district in Trinidad and Tobago in the north of Trinidad,including part of the borough of Arima. It is currently represented by Pennelope Beckles.
La Horquetta/Talparo is a parliamentary electoral district in Trinidad and Tobago in the centre of Trinidad. It has been represented since 2020 by Foster Cummings of the People's National Movement.
Shamfa Ashaki Cudjoe is a Trinidad and Tobago politician representing the People's National Movement. She has served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for Tobago West since the 2015 general election. She is the current Minister of Sport and Community Development.
Brian Manning is a Trinidad and Tobago politician representing the People's National Movement (PNM). He has served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for San Fernando East since the 2020 general election. He is the current Minister in the Ministry of Finance.
Tabaquite is a parliamentary electoral district in Trinidad and Tobago in the south-west of Trinidad. It has been represented since the 2020 general election by Anita Haynes of the United National Congress.
D'Abadie/O'Meara is a parliamentary electoral district in Trinidad and Tobago in the center of Trinidad. It has been represented since the 2020 general election by Lisa Morris-Julian of the People's National Movement (PNM).
The 2023 Trinidadian local elections are scheduled to be held on Monday,August 14,2023 across all 141 electoral districts in Trinidad's 14 municipal corporation electoral areas. The elections follow a 3-2 ruling on May 18,2023 from the United Kingdom's Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago's highest court of appeal,which stated that the government's one year extension of the mandate of councillors and alderman was unlawful. The election also comes two years after the PNM's landslide loss in the December 2021 Tobago House of Assembly election,where the party was wiped out of office in the Tobago House of Assembly after two decades in power. Polls point to widespread rejection among the population for both the governing People's National Movement and the opposition United National Congress with both major parties and their leaders,Prime Minister Keith Rowley and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar being "extremely unpopular with unprecedented low approval ratings.”
