2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election
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All 41 seats in the House of Representatives 21 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.svg) Map of the seats to be contested in the election. Tobago's electorates are shown on the left, Trinidad's electorates on the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election will be held after the currently elected 11th Trinidad and Tobago Republican Parliament is dissolved or expires. The current Parliament was elected on 7 September 2015. The last possible date for the next general election to be held is 23 December 2020.[2][3]
Voters will elect 41 members to the House of Representatives by first-past-the-post voting.
After the previous election, the People's National Movement, led by Prime Minister Keith Rowley formed a majority government. The main opponent to the People's National Movement government is the United National Congress, led by Kamla Persad-Bissessar. The Congress of the People is the sole other party in Parliament, represented by a single MP.
Electoral system
The 41 members of the House of Representatives are elected by first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies. Registered voters must be 18 years and over, must reside in an electoral district/constituency for at least two months prior to the qualifying date, be a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago or a Commonwealth citizen residing legally in Trinidad and Tobago for a period of at least one year.[4]
If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government, with its leader as Prime Minister. If the election results in no single party having a majority, then there is a hung parliament. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition government.
Parties and candidates
Political parties registered with the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) can contest the general election as a party.
The leader of the party commanding a majority of support in the House of Representatives is the person who is called on by the president to form a government as Prime Minister, while the leader of the largest party or coalition not in government becomes the Leader of the Opposition.
The People's National Movement and the United National Congress have been the two biggest parties, in addition to having supplied every Prime Minister since 1991.
The following registered parties are contesting the general election:
| Party | Founded | Political position and ideology | Leader(s) | Leader since | Leader's seat | Last election | Current seats |
Contested seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % party vote | Seats | |||||||||
| PNM | 1955 | Centre to centre-left | Keith Rowley | May 2010 | Diego Martin West | 23 / 41 (56%) |
23 / 41 (56%) |
41 seats in Trinidad and Tobago | ||
| UNC | 1989 | Centre-left | Kamla Persad-Bissessar | January 2010 | Siparia | 17 / 41 (41%) |
17 / 41 (41%) |
39 seats in Trinidad[5] | ||
| COP | 2006 | Centre-left | Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan | November 2017 | – | 1 / 41 (2%) |
1 / 41 (2%) |
|||
| MSJ | 2010 | Centre-left to left-wing
Democratic socialism, Social democracy, Labourism, Direct democracy |
David Abdulah | January 2012 | – | – | – | – | ||
| PDP | 2016 | Tobagonian nationalism, Federalism | Watson Duke | July 2016 | – [n 1] | not founded | – | – | ||
| Green | 2019 | Centre-left | Dr Everold Hosein | September 2019 | – | not founded | – | – | ||
| PF | 2019 | Centre-left to left-wing
Left-wing nationalism, Economic nationalism, Environmentalism |
Mickela Panday | May 2019 | – | not founded | – | – | ||
| Progressive | 2019 | Centre to centre-left | Nikoli Edwards | June 2019 | – | not founded | – | – | ||
| OTV | 2019 | Tobagonian interests | Hochoy Charles | October 2019 | – | not founded | – | – | ||
Marginal seats
The following lists identify and rank seats by the margin by which the party's candidate finished behind the winning candidate in the 2015 election.
For information purposes only, seats that have changed hands through subsequent byelections have been noted. Seats whose members have changed party allegiance are ignored.
- = appears in two lists
Members of Parliament not standing for re-election
| Retiring incumbent | Electoral District | Term in office | Date announced | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background:Template:United National Congress/meta/color;"| | Surujrattan Rambachan | UNC | Tabaquite | 2010-2020 | 14 August 2019[6] |
| Fuad Khan | UNC | Barataria/San Juan | 1995-2007; 2010–2020 | 9 November 2019[7] | |
| style="background:Template:United National Congress/meta/color;"| | Ganga Singh | UNC | Chaguanas West | 1995-2007 (Caroni East); 2015–2020 | 8 March 2020[8] |
| style="background:Template:People's National Movement/meta/color;"| | Maxie Cuffie | PNM | La Horquetta/Talparo | 2015–2020 | 13 May 2020[9] |
Candidates by constituency
People in bold represent cabinet ministers and the deputy speaker. Party leaders are italicized. The symbol † indicates MPs who are not running again.
Trinidad
Tobago
| Electoral District | Candidates | Incumbent | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PNM | PDP | OTV | Other | ||||
| width="17.5%" style="background:Template:People's National Movement/meta/color " | | width="17.5%" style="background:Template:Progressive Democratic Patriots/meta/color " | | width="17.5%" style="background:Template:One Tobago Voice/meta/color " | | width="17.5%" style="background:Template:Independent/meta/color " | | ||||
| Tobago East | Ayanna Webster-Roy | Watson Duke | style="background:Template:Tobago Council of the People's National Movement/meta/color " | | Ayanna Webster-Roy | |||
| Tobago West | Shamfa Cudjoe | Tashia Grace Burris | style="background:Template:Tobago Council of the People's National Movement/meta/color " | | Shamfa Cudjoe | |||
Opinion polling
The North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) has commissioned opinion polling for the next general election regularly sampling the electorates' opinions.
Preferred Prime Minister
| Date[nb 1] | Firm | Interview Mode | Sample Size | Persad-Bissessar | Rowley | Lead | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2020 | NACTA | n/a | n/a | 45% | 43% | 2% | ||
| ^ Remainder were "undecided". | ||||||||
Satisfaction
| Date[nb 1] | Firm | Interview Mode | Sample Size | Persad-Bissessar | Rowley | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | ||||||
| 31 May 2020 | NACTA | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 53% | n/a | ||
| March 2020 | NACTA | n/a | n/a | 55% | n/a | 46% | n/a | ||
| 1–7 September 2019 | SBS | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 50% | 38% | ||
| 8 March 2019 | NACTA | Face-to-face | 540 | 42% | 44% | 40% | 47% | ||
| 24 September 2017 | NACTA | Face-to-face | 390 | 42% | n/a | 40% | n/a | ||
| 1–3 September 2017 | H.H.B. & Associates | Telephone | 301 | 43% | 38% | 32% | n/a | ||
| July 2017 | NACTA | Face-to-face | 410 | 43% | n/a | 41% | n/a | ||
| June 2017 | NACTA | Face-to-face | 380 | 43% | n/a | 42% | n/a | ||
| 30 August – 5 September 2016 | SBS | Telephone | 601 | n/a | n/a | 51% | n/a | ||
| ^ Remainder were "undecided". | |||||||||
Government direction
| Date[nb 1] | Polling organisation | Interview Mode | Sample size | Right direction | Wrong direction | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 2017 | NACTA | Face-to-face | 390 | n/a | 89 | n/a |
| 1–3 September 2017 | H.H.B. & Associates | Telephone | 301 | n/a | 83 | n/a |
| July 2017 | NACTA | Face-to-face | 410 | n/a | 85 | n/a |
| June 2017 | NACTA | Face-to-face | 380 | n/a | 83 | n/a |
Seat projections
| Date[nb 1] | Pollster | Sample size |
class="unsortable" style="background:Template:People's National Movement/meta/color;" data-sort-type="number" |PNM | class="unsortable" style="background:Template:United National Congress/meta/color;" number" |UNC | class="unsortable" style="background:Template:Congress of the People (Trinidad and Tobago)/meta/color;" number" |COP | Other | Majority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancil Dennis becomes Chief Secretary of Tobago[10][11] | |||||||
| The first case of COVID-19 is confirmed in Trinidad and Tobago, pre-campaigning partially suspended on 13 March[12][13] | |||||||
| COP, MSJ and NSA agree to form a coalition[14] | |||||||
| Kelvin Charles announces his resignation as Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly and that Tracy Davidson-Celestine will be appointed as a councillor | |||||||
| 2020 Tobago Council of the People's National Movement election; Tracy Davidson-Celestine is elected leader of the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement | |||||||
| 2019 Trinidadian local elections | |||||||
| August 2019 | NACTA | – | 23 | 18 | 0 | 0 | style="background:Template:People's National Movement/meta/color;color:#FFFFFF;" data-sort-value="5" | 5 |
| April 2019 | NACTA | – | 26 | 15 | 0 | 0 | style="background:Template:People's National Movement/meta/color;color:#FFFFFF;" data-sort-value="11" | 11 |
| March 2019 | NACTA | 540 | 25 | 16 | 0 | 0 | style="background:Template:People's National Movement/meta/color;color:#FFFFFF;" data-sort-value="9" | 9 |
| September 2018 | NACTA | – | 23 | 18 | 0 | 0 | style="background:Template:People's National Movement/meta/color;color:#FFFFFF;" data-sort-value="5" | 5 |
| Barataria and Belmont East Local Government Bye-Elections | |||||||
| Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan is elected leader of the COP[15][16] | |||||||
| Anirudh Mahabir resigns as leader of the COP[17][18] | |||||||
| 2017 Tobago House of Assembly election; Kelvin Charles becomes Chief Secretary of Tobago | |||||||
| 2016 Trinidadian local elections | |||||||
| Anirudh Mahabir is elected leader of the COP[19] | |||||||
| Kelvin Charles is elected leader of the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement[20] | |||||||
| Prakash Ramadhar resigns as leader of the COP[21] | |||||||
| Auzonville/Tunapuna and Malabar South Local Government Bye-Elections | |||||||
| 7 Sep 2015 | 2015 election | – | 23 | 17 | 1 | 0 | style="background:Template:People's National Movement/meta/color;color:#FFFFFF;" data-sort-value="5" | 5 |
See also
- 2021 Tobago House of Assembly election
- 2020 Tobago Council of the People's National Movement election
- 2019 Trinidadian local elections
- 2017 Tobago House of Assembly election
- 2016 Trinidadian local elections
Footnotes
- ^ Watson Duke sits as an Assembly Member in the Tobago House of Assembly for Belle Garden East/Roxborough/Delaford.
References
- ^ "Smaller TT parties agree on coalition". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ "December elections?". 16 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
- ^ "Imbert: UNC's claim on local gov't elections 'nonsense'". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
- ^ Registering to Vote TT Connect
- ^ "UNC: We have the best line-up". Trinidad Express Newspapers. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
- ^ "Rambachan Bows Out Of Politics". Caribbean Communications Network.
- ^ Sambrano, Chester. "Fuad Khan bows out of politics". Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ "15 UNC MPs seeking re-election in 2020 polls". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 8 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ "Cuffie not returning as candidate in upcoming General Elections". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ "Dennis is youngest Chief Secretary". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 6 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
- ^ "Dennis, 33, makes THA history". Trinidad Express Newspapers. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
- ^ "Political parties halt activities over covid19". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 14 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ "Two major parties put election campaigning on hold". Trinidad Express Newspapers. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ "Smaller TT parties agree on coalition". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Ram, Ryan. "Seepersad-Bachan Elected New Leader of COP | THE WEST INDIAN ONLINE". Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ^ "Carolyn Seepersad Bachan is the new political leader of the C.O.P | I955 FM". Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ^ Parsanlal, Nneka. "COP Leaders Resign". Caribbean Communications Network. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ^ "COP leaders resign". Retrieved 1 February 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "COP elects Dr Anirudh Mahabir as new political leader". www.guardian.co.tt. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ^ "New PNM Tobago Leader". Caribbean Communications Network. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ^ "Prakash quits as COP leader". The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper. 19 February 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
External links
- Elections And Boundaries Commission | Partners in Democracy
- Trinidad and Tobago Election Centre - Caribbean Elections
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| Local elections |
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| West Indies elections | |||||
