Election for the House of Representatives in Trinidad and Tobago in 2015
The election for the House of Representatives in Trinidad and Tobago 2015 ("general election") took place on September 7, 2015. It was the 13th election since gaining independence from Great Britain in 1962 and the 21st election in Trinidad and Tobago ever. The winner of the election was the People's National Movement (PNM).
Electoral system
Trinidad and Tobago has a two-chamber system modeled on the former colonial power Great Britain . While the 31 members of the House of Lords, the Senate, are appointed by the President, the 41 members of the House of Representatives are elected every five years by free and general election. Each member represents a constituency that it must win. The principle of majority voting applies : the votes of the candidates who are defeated in one constituency are forfeited. This electoral system is common in many former British colonies as well as in Great Britain itself and usually results in the formation of a system with two or three nationally dominant parties. The parties are free to determine which candidate stands in which constituency.
initial situation
As a result of the General Election on May 24, 2010, the government was formed by the People's Partnership, a coalition of the United National Congress , Congress of the People , Tobago Organization of the People and National Joint Action Committee . 1,099,245 Trinidadians were eligible to vote in September 2015; 1547 polling stations were available to them. The election date was set by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on June 12, 2015.
A party that received much attention in the media was founded in July 2013. Since the UNC politician Austin Jack Warner was not nominated by his party for a by-election in the Chaguanas-West constituency, he resigned from the UNC and founded his own party, the Independent Liberal Party (ILP), for which he ran in the by-election and won the constituency. The by-election had become necessary because, under pressure from the UNC, Warner had to resign from his posts as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and as chairman of the UNC and subsequently also resigned from his constituency mandate at Chaguanas-West. In the run-up to the election, the UNC decided to renew the People's Partnership coalition and therefore did not run in all constituencies.
According to surveys, the election was a head-to-head race between the People's Partnership coalition and the People's National Movement. The constituencies of La Horquetta / Talparo, Moruga / Tableland, San Fernando West, Toco / Sangre Grande and Tunapuna, for which a close result was predicted, were of particular interest.
Parties and candidates
In 2015 there were 55 eligible parties in Trinidad and Tobago. The following 17 parties nominated a candidate in at least one constituency:
| Political party | Number of candidates |
|---|---|
| Congress of the People (COP) | 8th |
| Democratic Development Party (DDP) | 1 |
| Independent Democratic Party (IDP) | 1 |
| Independent Liberal Party (ILP) | 26th |
| Laventille Outreach for Vertical Enrichment (LOVE) | 3 |
| National Coalition for Transportation (NCT) | 1 |
| National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) | 3 |
| New National Vision (NNV) | 3 |
| People's National Movement (PNM) | 41 |
| Tobago Forwards (TF) | 2 |
| Trinidad Humanity Campaign (THC) | 3 |
| The New Voice | 1 |
| Tobago Organization of the People (TOP) | 2 |
| Tobago Platform of Truth (TPT) | 2 |
| United National Congress (UNC) | 28 |
| Youth Empowerment Party (YEP) | 1 |
| Youth, national organizations, farmers unification, policy Reformation (YOUR) | 1 |
In addition, an independent candidate stood for election in each of five constituencies. Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar (UNC) ran in the constituency of Siparia, the opposition leaders Keith Rowley (PNM) and Austin Jack Warner (ILP) in the constituencies of Diego Martin West and Chaguanas East.
Positions
There are no significant differences in the programs of the two major parties, UNC and PNM. Traditionally, the UNC is more of an Indo-Trinidadian party, while Afro-Trinidadian make up the majority of the PNM's base. In Trinidad, however, racial differences play a subordinate role, the dominant topic in the media is the high rate of violent crime; here both parties claim that they are better suited to combat them.
procedure
The election campaign was peaceful, with incidents only occurring in Tacarigua , when a man stepped onto the stage set up there during a PNM election campaign event and set it on fire, and in Fyzabad , where ILP candidate Fabien Assie addressed one to him in his office Found envelope with cartridges. The polling stations were open on September 7, 2015, a Monday, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Election observers were dispatched by CARICOM and the Commonwealth .
Election result
The PNM won 23 of the 41 constituencies and thus a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives. The People's Partnership electoral alliance won 18 seats and thus lost the election. Former UNC chairman Jack Warner's ILP was unable to win a single constituency.
The following candidates prevailed in the 41 constituencies:
| Constituency | region | winner | Political party |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arima | Arima | Anthony Garcia | PNM |
| Arouca / Maloney | Tunapuna-Piarco | Camille Robinson-Regis | PNM |
| Barataria / San Juan | San Juan Laventille | Fuad Khan | UNC |
| Caroni Central | Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo | Bhoe Tewarie | UNC |
| Caroni East | Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo | Tim Gopeesingh | UNC |
| Chaguanas East | Chaguanas | Fazal Karim | UNC |
| Chaguanas West | Chaguanas | Ganga Singh | UNC |
| Couva North | Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo | Ramona Ramdial | UNC |
| Couva South | Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo | Rudy Indarsingh | UNC |
| Cumuto / Manzanilla | Sangre Grande | Christine Newallo-Hosein | UNC |
| D'Abadie / O'Meara | Tunapuna-Piarco | Ancil Antoine | PNM |
| Diego Martin Central | Diego Martin | Daryl Smith | PNM |
| Diego Martin North / East | Diego Martin | Colm Imbert | PNM |
| Diego Martin West | Diego Martin | Keith Rowley | PNM |
| Fyzabad | Siparia | Lackram Bodoe | UNC |
| La Brea | Siparia | Nicole Olivierre | PNM |
| La Horquetta / Talparo | Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo | Maxie Cuffie | PNM |
| Laventille East / Morvant | San Juan Laventille | Adrian Leonce | PNM |
| Laventille West | San Juan Laventille | Fitzgerald Hinds | PNM |
| Lopinot / Bon Air West | Tunapuna-Piarco | Cherrie-Ann Crichlow-Cockburn | PNM |
| Mayaro | Mayaro-Rio Claro | Rushton Paray | UNC |
| Moruga / Tableland | Princes Town | Lovell Francis | PNM |
| Naparima | Penal Debe | Rodney Charles | UNC |
| Oropouche East | Siparia | Roodal Moonilal | UNC |
| Oropouche West | Siparia | Vidia Gayadeen-Gopeesingh | UNC |
| Point Fortin | Point Fortin | Edmund Dillon | PNM |
| Pointe-a-Pierre | Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo | David Lee | UNC |
| Port of Spain North / St. Ann's West | Port of Spain | Stuart Young | PNM |
| Port of Spain South | Port of Spain | Marlene McDonald | PNM |
| Princes Town | Princes Town | Barry Padarath | UNC |
| San Fernando East | San Fernando | Randall Mitchell | PNM |
| San Fernando West | San Fernando | Faris Al-Rawi | PNM |
| Siparia | Siparia | Kamla Persad-Bissessar | UNC |
| St. Ann's East | San Juan Laventille | Nyan Gadbsy-Dolly | PNM |
| St. Augustine | Tunapuna-Piarco | Prakash Ramadhar | COP |
| St. Joseph | San Juan Laventille | Terrence Deyalsingh | PNM |
| Tabaquite | Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo | Suruj Rambachan | UNC |
| Tobago East | Eastern Tobago | Ayanna Webster-Roy | PNM |
| Tobago West | Western Tobago | Shamfa Cudjoe | PNM |
| Toco / Sangre Grande | Sangre Grande | Glenda Jennings-Smith | PNM |
| Tunapuna | Tunapuna-Piarco | Esmond Forde | PNM |
The PNM also won a majority of the votes nationwide; 378,447 Trinidadian people voted for the victorious party and 341,597 for the People's Partnership.
consequences
An election challenge by the People's Partnership was rejected by the EBC.
On September 9, Keith Rowley was sworn in as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, as did Faris Al-Rawi as Minister of Justice and Edmund Dillon as Minister of National Security. The remaining members of the 23-strong cabinet were sworn in on September 10th. Former Justice Secretary Bridgid Annisette-George was elected House Speaker on September 22nd.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reuters bulletin of April 22, 2010. Retrieved September 6, 2015 .
- ↑ Constituency overview on the website of the Elections and Boundaries Commission. Retrieved September 6, 2015 .
- ^ Message on Caricom Today. Retrieved September 6, 2015 .
- ↑ Jamaica Observer, June 29, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2015 .
- ↑ Newsday article, June 7, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2015 .
- ↑ Guardian Article, September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2015 .
- ↑ Express article of September 6, 2015. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 8, 2015 ; accessed on September 7, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Listing on the website of the Elections and Boundaries Commission. Retrieved September 6, 2015 .
- ↑ DW.com: Trinidad and Tobago election too close to call. Retrieved September 7, 2015 .
- ↑ Express article of September 7, 2015. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 9, 2015 ; accessed on September 7, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Guardian article dated August 24, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2015 .
- ^ Message on CaribbeanNewsNow. Retrieved September 7, 2015 .
- ^ Opening message on the Commonwealth website. Retrieved September 7, 2015 .
- ↑ Short message in the Express. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 8, 2015 ; accessed on September 8, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Final result on Elections.tt. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 8, 2015 ; accessed on September 8, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ message on Ctntworld.com. Retrieved September 11, 2015 .
- ↑ EBC responds: We have the power . In: trinidadexpress.com . September 9th, 2015. Archived from the original on September 12th, 2015. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Outgoing Trinidad & Tobago Government Says Election Results Illegitimate. Voters #ROTFL. . In: Global Voices . Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ↑ Express article of September 11, 2015. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 15, 2015 ; accessed on September 12, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Express article of September 23, 2015. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 25, 2015 ; accessed on September 24, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
