2023 Trinidadian local elections
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All 14 Municipal Corporation Electoral Areas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 30.3% ( 4.4 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2023 Trinidadian local elections were held on Monday, August 14, 2023, across all 41 electoral districts in Trinidad's 14 municipal corporation electoral areas. Both parties won control of seven of the 14 corporations.
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 matter was brought before the Law Lords of the Privy Council by Ravi Balgobin Maharaj, and his legal team led by Anand Ramlogan, SC. The legal action taken by Ravi Balgobin Maharaj was necessary after the PNM government decided to extend the election by one year, which the Privy Council ruled was inconsistent with the rule of Democracy. The judgement handed down to Ravi Balgobin Maharaj by the Law Lords was a landmark ruling in the Commonwealth and marks the first time that a Court upheld the rights of citizens to vote in a Local Government Election.
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.[1][2] Polls pointed 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."[3]
The Elections And Boundaries Commission (EBC) is yet to produce a map of the boundaries of all 141 electoral districts in Trinidad. With the exception of those areas that have had boundary changes, the seats up for election were last contested in the 2019 local elections. The number of electoral districts has increased from 139 to 141 with the creation of two new seats, Couva West/Roystonia in the Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo Regional Corporation and Mayaro North in the Mayaro–Rio Claro Regional Corporation and also 22 boundary changes in six other corporations: Chaguanas, Point Fortin, Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo, Penal–Debe, Siparia and Mayaro–Rio Claro.[4] It i the first election since the establishment of regional corporations—Diego Martin and Siparia—as boroughs.
Since 1946, when the office of the mayor of the Port of Spain City Corporation was created, only men have officially served as mayor of the country's capital, despite voters in the last local elections electing a female majority city corporation slate in a historic first[5] and the outcry from women's activists on the lack of gender equality with political parties in terms of a low number of nominations by parties of prospective female councillors and female aldermen.[6] In 2019, both parties won control of seven of the fourteen corporations with the People's National Movement (PNM) losing their minority control status in the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation. The PNM won 72 of the then 139 electoral districts, but lost the popular vote and 11 electoral districts: Sangre Grande North West in the Sangre Grande regional corporation, Lengua/Indian Walk in the Princes Town Regional Corporation, Siparia West/Fyzabad in the Siparia Regional Corporation, Cocal/Mafeking in the Mayaro–Rio Claro Regional Corporation, Enterprise South/Longdenville North in the Chaguanas Borough Corporation, Caura/Paradise/Tacarigua in the Tunapuna–Piarco Regional Corporation, Les Effort West/La Romaine, Marabella West and Marabella West/Vistabella in the San Fernando City Corporation while gaining two from the United National Congress, in the San Juan–Laventille Regional Corporation, San Juan East and Barataria. The UNC also won the newly created districts of El Socorro/Aranguez North and La Fortune/Debe North, in the San Juan–Laventille and Penal–Debe Regional Corporation.
The major political parties are defending the following numbers of electoral districts from municipal corporations on election day:
- People's National Movement (PNM) – 72 electoral districts from 7 municipal corporations
- United National Congress (UNC) – 67 electoral districts from 7 municipal corporations
These numbers are how many seats each party had won at the previous election, in 2019, rather than which party held the seat on the eve of the election.
Eligibility to vote
All registered electors (Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Commonwealth and Non-Commonwealth citizens) who will be aged 18 or over, resided legally in Trinidad and Tobago and have resided in an electoral district/constituency for a least two months prior to the election date are entitled to vote in the local elections.[7]
Parties and standings
Political parties registered with the Elections and Boundaries Commission can contest the local elections.
| Party | Founded | Ideology | Leader(s) | Leader since | Last election | At dissolution | Contested seats | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal Corporations | Electoral districts | Municipal Corporations | Electoral districts | ||||||||
| Major party contesting all seats | |||||||||||
| People's National Movement (PNM) | 1955 | Liberalism, Social liberalism, Moderate nationalism | Keith Rowley | May 2010 | 7 / 14 (50%) | 72 / 139 (52%) | 7 / 14 (50%) | 71 / 139 (51%) |
141 seats | ||
| UNC/NTA alliance | |||||||||||
| United National Congress(UNC) | 1989 | Social democracy, Third Way | Kamla Persad-Bissessar | January 2010 | 7 / 14 (50%) | 67 / 139 (48%) | 7 / 14 (50%) | 66 / 139 (47%) |
110 seats[8] | ||
| National Transformation Alliance (NTA) | 2022 | Social liberalism | Gary Griffith | April 2022 | – | – | – | – | 31 seats[9] | ||
| PEP/RFA alliance | |||||||||||
| Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) | 2017 | Social democracy | Phillip Alexander | January 2017 | – | – | – | – | 48 seats[10][11] | ||
| Re-United Farmers Alliance (RFA) | 2022 | Agrarianism | Davica Thomas | April 2023[12] | – | – | – | – | 11 seats[13][14] | ||
| Minor parties not part of any alliance | |||||||||||
| Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) | 2010 | Social democracy,Socialism of the 21st century,Anti-imperialism, Labourism, Direct democracy | David Abdulah | January 2012 | 0 / 14 (0%) | 0 / 139 (0%) | 0 / 14 (0%) | 0 / 139 (0%) | 3 seats in Point Fortin[15] | ||
| Trinidad Humanity Campaign (THC) | 2015 | Social democracy | Marcus Ramkissoon[16] | July 2015 | – | – | – | – | 4 seats[17] | ||
| Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) | 2015 | Labourism | Watson Duke | December 2015 | – | – | – | – | 17 seats[18] | Has contested elections only in Tobago, first time contesting in Trinidad | |
| The National Party (TNP) | 2017 | Valmiki Ramsingh[19] | July 2017 | – | – | – | – | 1 seat, Les Efforts East Cipero in San Fernando[20] | |||
| Unity of the People (UTP) | 2020 | Nickocy Phillips[21] | July 2020 | – | – | – | – | 1 seat in San Juan[22][23] | Has only contested an election in Tobago, first time contesting in Trinidad | ||
Campaign slogans
| Party | Slogan | |
|---|---|---|
| People's National Movement (PNM) | Right people. Right reasons. Reform LG. | |
| United National Congress (UNC) | Secure T&T. | |
| National Transformation Alliance (NTA) | Believe. NTA is the way.[24] | |
| Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) | We will fix it![25] | |
| Re-United Farmers Alliance (RFA) | Time for real change. Pledge to feeding the nation[26] | |
| Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) | We represent Point![27] | |
| Trinidad Humanity Campaign (THC) | Good governance is at your fingertips[28] | |
| Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) | People before politics. Putting people first.[29] | |
| The National Party (TNP) | You be the change! | |
| Unity of the People (UTP) | Vote for change with a difference[30] | |
Opinion polls
The North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) which commissions opinion polling for elections in the region, sampling the electorates' opinions, has been criticized for not being quantitative and instead being qualitative by containing no statistical figures whatsoever and also for not publishing its methodology, with missing information such as sample size, how the sample is chosen and margin of error. The pollster has also been criticized for being outdated by not having a website where the full surveys can be accessible. [31][32]
Municipal Corporation projections
| Date | Pollster | Sample size |
PNM | UNC | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 August 2023 | Local Election results[33] | – | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| 23 July 2023[34] | NACTA | 430 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| 23 May 2023 | Two UNC councillors resign[35] | ||||
| 6 December 2021 | PNM faces a historic 14-1 loss in the December 2021 Tobago House of Assembly election; PNM ousted after 20 years in power[1][2] | ||||
| 25 January 2021 | PNM loses the 2021 Trinidadian local by-elections[36] and the January 2021 Tobago House of Assembly election[37] | ||||
| 2 December 2019 | Local Election results[38] | – | 7 | 7 | 0 |
