2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election

7 September 2015 (2015-09-07)
All 41 seats in the House of Representatives
Turnout	66.84%
First party Second party Third party   COP Leader Keith Rowley Kamla Persad-Bissessar Prakash Ramadhar Party PNM UNC COP Alliance PP PP Leader since 26 May 2010 24 January 2010 3 July 2011 Leader's seat Diego Martin West Siparia St. Augustine Last election 12 seats, 39.5% 21 seats, 43.7% 6 seats, 14.12% Seats won 23 / 41 17 / 41 1 / 41 Seat change 11 4 5 Popular vote 378,447 290,066 43,991 Percentage 51.68% 39.61% 6.01% Swing 12.0 pp 4.1 pp 8.1 pp
Colours denote the winning party, shades denote voting strength as shown in the main table of results.
Prime Minister before election Kamla Persad-Bissessar (People's Partnership/United National Congress) Subsequent Prime Minister Keith Rowley (People's National Movement)

Politics of Trinidad and Tobago
Government President (list) Christine Kangaloo Prime Minister Keith Rowley
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General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on 7 September 2015.^[1] The date of the general elections was announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on 13 June 2015. The result was a victory for the opposition People's National Movement, which received 52% of the vote and won 23 of the 41 seats in the House of Representatives.^[2]

Background

The 2010 general elections were won by the People's Partnership (PP) coalition, an alliance of the United National Congress (UNC), the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), the Congress of the People (COP) and the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP). The PP took 29 of the 41 seats, with the People's National Movement (PNM) winning the other 12. Prior to the 2015 general elections, two by-elections were held in St Joseph and Chaguanas West, which saw the seats held by the PP won by the PNM and Independent Liberal Party (ILP) respectively.^[3]

Electoral system

The 41 elected members of the House of Representatives were elected in single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post.^[4] A total of 2,199 polling stations were used.^[5]

Campaign

A total of 127 candidates contested the election for 17 different political parties, with another five running as independents. The PNM was the only party to contest all 41 seats, and only two other parties contested more than half the seats; the United National Congress ran in 28 and the ILP in 26.

The COP ran in eight seats, the Laventille Outreach for Vertical Enrichment, the NJAC, New National Vision and Trinidad Humanity Campaign all contested three seats, whilst Tobago Forwards, the TOP and the Platform of Truth ran in two. The other parties only nominated a single candidate, including the Democratic Development Party, the Independent Democratic Party, the National Coalition for Transportation, the New Voice, the Youth Empowerment Party and the Youth, National Organisations, Farmers Unification, Policy Reformation.^[5]

The UNC, NJAC, COP and TOP again ran under the PP banner, and did not run candidates against each other.^[6]

Opposition leader Keith Rowley described the election campaign as one of the most "gruelling" in the country's history, but highlighted that the campaign had been conducted in high spirits and without violence or unrest.^[7]

Results

Preliminary results on election night indicated that the PNM had won a majority government with 22 of 41 seats, but with a majority of the popular vote flowing to the ruling People's Partnership coalition. On the final count however the PNM clearly secured an absolute majority of votes cast and obtained an extra seat from the PP, winning 23 of the 41 seats. The four parties in the PP alliance received a combined 46.6% of the vote, winning the remaining eighteen seats.^[2]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's National Movement	378,447	51.68	23	+11
	United National Congress (PP)	290,066	39.61	17	−4
	Congress of the People  (PP)	43,991	6.01	1	−5
	National Joint Action Committee (PP)	5,790	0.79	0	0
	Independent Liberal Party	5,123	0.70	0	New
	Tobago Forwards	2,162	0.30	0	New
	Tobago Organisation of the People (PP)	1,750	0.24	0	−2
	New National Vision	883	0.12	0	0
	Platform of Truth	469	0.06	0	New
	Laventille Outreach for Vertical Enrichment	344	0.05	0	New
	National Coalition for Transportation	331	0.05	0	New
	Democratic Development Party	153	0.02	0	New
	Trinidad Humanity Campaign	138	0.02	0	New
	Independent Democratic Party	108	0.01	0	New
	The New Voice	101	0.01	0	New
	Youth, National Organisations, Farmers Unification, Policy Reformation	74	0.01	0	New
	Youth Empowerment Party	34	0.00	0	New
	Independents	2,376	0.32	0	0
Total		732,340	100.00	41	0
Valid votes		732,340	99.67
Invalid/blank votes		2,452	0.33
Total votes		734,792	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,099,279	66.84
Source: Caribbean Elections

References