Trinidad Politics

The Trinidad and Tobago political structure differs from every other Caribbean country because of the additions made to the Trinidad and Tobago constitution over the years. The Trinidad and Tobago people recognize two political parties and have not been able to open the Trinidad political arena to include a third Trinidad and Tobago political party.

The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago is the legislative branch of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. The Parliament is bicameral. It consists of the elected House of Representatives, which has 36 members elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies, and the Senate which has 31 members appointed by the President: 16 Government Senators appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister, 6 Opposition Senators appointed on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition and 9 Independent Senators appointed by the President to represent other sectors of civil society. This is a list of political parties in Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago has a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party. Currently the two major parties are the People's National Movement and the United National Congress. The PNM has governed Trinidad and Tobago from 1956-86, 1991-95 and from 2001 to the present. The UNC governed from 1995-2001 and currently serves as the official.

The People's National Movement is the ruling conservative political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Founded in 1955 by Eric Williams, it won the 1956 General Elections and went on to hold power for an unbroken 30 years. After the death of Williams in 1981 George Chambers led the party. Under the weight of allegations of corruption and mismanagement the party was totally defeated in the 1986 General Elections, losing 33-3 to the National Alliance for Reconstruction. Under the leadership of Patrick Manning, the party returned to power in 1991, but lost power in 1995 to the United National Congress in the face of rising crime and allegations of corruption and mismanagement. The PNM lost the 2000 General Elections, but a split in the UNC forced new elections in 2001. These elections resulted in an 18-18 tie between the PNM and the UNC, and President Arthur N.R. Robinson appointed Manning as Prime Minister. Manning was unable to elect a Speaker of the House of Representatives, but won an outright majority in new elections held in 2002. As before, crime rates have increased sharply and five senior members of the party are currently under investigation for corruption.

The United National Congress (UNC) is one of the two major political organizations in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It was founded by Basdeo Panday, a lawyer and former trade unionist, and is led by Winston Dookeran an economist. The UNC was formed as the result of a split in the ruling National Alliance for Reconstruction in 1988. After spending six years in Opposition, the UNC won control of the government between 1995 (initially in coalition with the National Alliance for Reconstruction and later on their own. In the 2000 General Elections the UNC won an absolute majority in Parliament. In 2001 a split in the party caused the UNC to lose its parliamentary majority. As a consequence of this the UNC lost control of the government. Between 1991 and 1995 and again since 2001 the UNC has been the Parliamentary Opposition party. Although many people see the UNC as the successor party to the United Labor Front, the UNC managed to attract much broader support than did any previous Indo-Trinidadian-dominated party.

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