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2023 Trinidadian local elections

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2023 Trinidadian local elections
← 2019 Monday, August 14, 2023 2027 →
All 14 Municipal Corporation Electoral Areas
Opinion polls
Turnout30.3% (Decrease 4.4 pp)
 
Leader Kamla Persad-Bissesar Keith Rowley
Party UNC PNM
Alliance UNC/NTA
Leader since 24 January 2010 26 May 2010
Last election 67 councillors, 54.59%
7 municipal corporations 		72 councillors, 43.60%
7 municipal corporations
Popular vote 173,961
52.51% 		130,868
39.50%
Swing Decrease 2.08% Decrease 4.10%
Municipal Corporations 7 / 14 7 / 14
Municipal Corporations +/– Steady Steady
Councillors 70 / 141 70 / 141
Councillors +/– Increase3 Decrease2

The 2023 Trinidadian local elections were held on Monday, August 14, 2023, across all 141 electoral districts in Trinidad's 14 municipal corporation electoral areas. 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. 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."

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. 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 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. 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.

Seats held prior to the election

The major political parties are defending the following numbers of electoral districts from municipal corporations on election day:

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.

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
National Transformation Alliance (NTA) 2022 Social liberalism Gary Griffith April 2022 – – – – 31 seats
PEP/RFA alliance
Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) 2017 Social democracy Phillip Alexander January 2017 – – – – 48 seats
Re-United Farmers Alliance (RFA) 2022 Agrarianism Davica Thomas April 2023 – – – – 11 seats
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
Trinidad Humanity Campaign (THC) 2015 Social democracy Marcus Ramkissoon July 2015 – – – – 4 seats
Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) 2015 Labourism Watson Duke December 2015 – – – – 17 seats Has contested elections only in Tobago, first time contesting in Trinidad
The National Party (TNP) 2017 Valmiki Ramsingh July 2017 – – – – 1 seat, Les Efforts East Cipero in San Fernando
Unity of the People (UTP) 2020 Nickocy Phillips July 2020 – – – – 1 seat in San Juan 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.
Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) We will fix it!
Re-United Farmers Alliance (RFA) Time for real change. Pledge to feeding the nation
Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) We represent Point!
Trinidad Humanity Campaign (THC) Good governance is at your fingertips
Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) People before politics. Putting people first.
The National Party (TNP) You be the change!
Unity of the People (UTP) Vote for change with a difference

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.

Municipal Corporation projections

Date Pollster Sample
size 		PNM UNC Other
14 August 2023 Local Election results – 7 7 0
23 July 2023 NACTA 430 7 7 0
23 May 2023 Two UNC councillors resign
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
25 January 2021 PNM loses the 2021 Trinidadian local by-elections and the January 2021 Tobago House of Assembly election
2 December 2019 Local Election results – 7 7 0

Summary results

Elections are conducted under the first-past-the-post system. Preliminary results are shown below. Recounts are still ongoing.

Party Party leader Candidates Councillors % of councillors Votes % of Votes
2019 2023 +/- 2019 2023 +/- 2019 2023 +/- 2019 2023 +/-
  United National Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad-Bissessar 110 67 70 48.2% 202,584 173,961 54.59% 52.51%
National Transformation Alliance (NTA) Gary Griffith 31 - 0 - - 15,997 - 4.83%
UNC/NTA alliance total 67 70 48.2% 202,584 189,958 54.59% 57.34%
People's National Movement (PNM) Keith Rowley 141 72 70 51.8% 162,801 130,868 43.60% 39.50%
  Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) Phillip Alexander 48 - 0 - - 5,930 - 1.79%
Re-United Farmers Alliance (RFA) Davica Thomas 11 - 0 - - 1,041 - 0.31%
PEP/RFA alliance total - 0 - - 6,971 - 2.10%
Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) Watson Duke 17 - 0 - - 1,287 - 0.39%
Trinidad Humanity Campaign (THC) Marcus Ramkissoon 4 - 0 - - 234 - 0.07%
Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) David Abdulah 3 0 0 0.0% 2,608 164 0.70% 0.05%
Unity of the People (UTP) Nickocy Phillips 1 - 0 - - 110 - 0.03%
The National Party (TNP) Valmiki Ramsingh 1 - 0 - - 45 - 0.01%
Independents (IND) N/A 6 0 0 0.0% 521 0.86%
Total 373 139 141 Increase2 100% 100% Steady 373,437 100% 100% Steady
Electorate: 1,091,936 Total votes: 331,300 Turnout:30.34 %

Results by municipal corporation electoral area

Municipal Corporation Prior to election Post election
Seats Turnout Control PNM UNC Seats Turnout Control PNM UNC
Arima 7 33.29% PNM 6 1 7 PNM 7 0
Chaguanas 8 38.05% UNC 1 7 8 UNC 1 7
Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo 14 36.98% UNC 0 14 15 UNC 0 15
Diego Martin 10 23.73% PNM 10 0 10 PNM 10 0
Mayaro–Rio Claro 6 43.53% UNC 1 5 7 UNC 1 6
Penal–Debe 10 39.92% UNC 0 9 10 UNC 0 10
Point Fortin 6 34.74% PNM 6 0 6 PNM 6 0
Port of Spain 12 24.40% PNM 12 0 12 PNM 12 0
Princes Town 10 40.51% UNC 0 10 10 UNC 0* 9*
San Fernando 9 35.72% PNM 6 3 9 PNM 5 4
San Juan–Laventille 14 25.63% PNM 12 2 14 PNM 11 3
Sangre Grande 8 42.02% UNC 3 5 8 UNC 2 6
Siparia 9 41.92% UNC 3 6 9 UNC 3 6
Tunapuna–Piarco 16 34.28% PNM 11 5 16 PNM 11 5
All fourteen municipal corporations 139 34.71% 71 68 141 70 70
Source: Report of the Elections and Boundaries Commission on the Local Government Elections held on Monday, December 2, 2019
Municipal Corporation Prior to election Post election
Control Councillors Control Councillors
Total PNM UNC Other Total PNM UNC Other
Arima PNM 7 6 1 PNM PNM 7 0
Chaguanas UNC 8 1 7 UNC UNC 1 7
Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo UNC 14 0 14 UNC UNC 0 15
Diego Martin PNM 10 10 0 PNM PNM 10 0
Mayaro–Rio Claro UNC 6 1 5 UNC UNC 1 6
Penal–Debe UNC 10 0 10 UNC UNC 0 10
Point Fortin PNM 6 6 0 PNM PNM 6 0
Port of Spain PNM 12 12 0 PNM PNM 12 0
Princes Town UNC 10 0 10 UNC UNC 0* 9*
San Fernando PNM 9 6 3 PNM PNM 5 4
San Juan–Laventille PNM 14 12 2 PNM PNM 11 3
Sangre Grande UNC 8 3 5 UNC UNC 2 6
Siparia UNC 9 3 6 UNC UNC 3 6
Tunapuna–Piarco PNM 16 11 5 PNM PNM 11 5
Totals 139 71 68 70 70

Allocation of Aldermen

Prior to election Post election
Municipal Corporation Aldermen Aldermen
Total PNM UNC Other Total PNM UNC NTA Other
Arima 4 3 1 4 3 1 0
Chaguanas 4 1 3 4 1 3 -
Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo 4 1 3 4 0 4 -
Diego Martin 4 3 1 4 3 0 1
Mayaro–Rio Claro 4 1 3 4 1 3 -
Penal–Debe 4 0 4 4 0 4 -
Point Fortin 4 4 0 4 4 0 0
Port of Spain 4 4 0 4 4 0 0
Princes Town 4 1 3 4 1 3 -
San Fernando 4 2 2 4 2 2 -
San Juan–Laventille 4 3 1 4 2 2 0
Sangre Grande 4 2 2 4 2 2 -
Siparia 4 2 2 4 2 2 -
Tunapuna–Piarco 4 2 2 4 2 2 0
Totals 56 29 27 56 27 28 1

See also

References

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