Trinidad & Tobago - Independence
Between independence in 1962 and 1986, politics in Trinidad and Tobago was inseparable from the story of Williams and the party he founded, the PNM. The PNM under Williams (and after his death in 1981, George Chambers) had a long run of electoral successes. Even after his death in 1981, Williams's legacy helped win another five-year term for the PNM. As the first leader in a newly independent country, Williams set many precedents and came to be seen as the father of the country. Williams's legitimacy derived from his education, his charisma, his speaking ability, and his personal identification with the lower class blacks in Trinidad. He also was an astute politician who did not hesitate to be rutWess if maintaining his power and leadership depended on it. As time went on, power within the PNM became increasingly centralized and Williams less tolerant of dissent.
In spite of his high-handed way of dealing with PNM members who disagreed with him during his twenty-five years as prime minister, Williams left Trinidad and Tobago with a functioning democratic political system, including a free press and a healthy opposition whose leaders had been trained in PNM ranks. Throughout Williams's tenure as prime minister, there were numerous strikes and labor disputes. Labor leaders formed various coalitions and parties, but none of these was sufficiently powerful to gain control of the government.
Postindependence PNM rule can be divided into four phases: 1962-69, a period of consolidation and economic hardship; 1970-73, a time of economic and political troubles that included the Black Power riots; 1974-81, a period of prosperity and increased government centralization; and 1981-86, the period after Williams's death when George Chambers was prime minister.
Economic conditions worsened in the early 1980s and the PNM was ousted in 1986 by a coalition of opposition parties, the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) led by A.N.R. Robinson, which won the election by a landslide. The NAR captured thirty-three out of the thirty-six House seats, including that of Prime Minister Chambers and his two deputies. However, the coalition was troubled, and soon the United Labour Front (led by Basdeo Panday, Robinson’s deputy) quit the alliance to form the United National Congress (UNC).
In July 1990, an attempted coup was staged by a militant Muslim faction, which stormed parliament and took Robinson and members of parliament hostage for five days and led to an outbreak of looting in poor areas of the capital. The hostages were released on the promise of an amnesty, but the NAR government was never able to recover and the PNM, under Patrick Manning, won an easy electoral victory in December 1991.
The PNM lost its substantial majority at the November 1995 elections: it won 17 seats, exactly the same number as Panday’s UNC, which also won 17 seats in the 36-member Parliament. The National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) won two seats and thus held the balance of power. The NAR joined with the UNC to form a new government. Basdeo Panday became the country's first Prime Minister of East Indian descent. Following the retirement of President Noor Hassanali, Robinson became the country’s President in February 1997.
The UNC’s position was strengthened by divisions within the PNM. Although its leader, Patrick Manning, won a leadership contest in October 1996, his challenger received 40 per cent of the votes. Two PNM MPs subsequently left the party, becoming independents. Both later began to support the UNC and were appointed government ministers. Consequently, although the UNC–NAR coalition remained intact, the UNC had a parliamentary majority on its own from the middle of 1997.
In June–July 1999, ten convicted murderers were hanged. These executions – the first since 1994 – had been delayed for several years by appeals to the Privy Council in the UK, and had only been carried out when the Privy Council had ruled that hanging was not in itself inhumane. The Caribbean Court of Justice was subsequently established in Port of Spain as the final court of appeal for CARICOM countries.
In general elections in December 2000, voters returned Prime Minister Panday and his UNC party to power with a 2-seat majority, winning 19 seats. The PNM won 16 seats and the NAR 1 seat. Election observers noted that the elections were well-organized, peaceful, free, and fair. However, the PNM immediately challenged the result on the grounds that two UNC candidates had had dual nationality. There was further controversy when the President was unwilling to appoint seven of Panday’s nominations to cabinet posts who had all been defeated in the elections.
In January 2001 a month-long standoff ensued when the President refused to confirm seven of the Prime Minister's ministerial and senatorial appointments, asserting that the Prime Minister was exceeding his authority in appointing defeated election candidates. Eventually the President assented to the appointments. President Robinson finally gave way in February 2001 but the PNM’s challenge to the legitimacy of the two UNC members took far longer to resolve and the new administration continued in 2001 amid considerable uncertainty, which was only dispelled when a fresh national election was called for December 2001.
General elections held on 10 December 2001 resulted in an evenly divided Parliament, with both major parties winning 18 seats. Election observers reported that the elections were transparent and generally conducted in a free, orderly, and peaceful manner. Observers also expressed concern about the accuracy of voters' lists, since a number of persons found their names deleted on election day. Both parties looked to President A.N.R. Robinson to break the deadlock by appointing as Prime Minister that candidate most likely to be able to command a majority in Parliament. When the President appointed PNM leader Patrick Manning, the UNC declared the decision unconstitutional, and refused to participate in an earlier agreement on the appointment of a Parliamentary Speaker, among other things. At year's end, the PNM had made all of its cabinet appointments, the UNC had called for new elections, and the Parliament had not been called into session.
In the elections in November 2007 (with the number of contested seats increased from 36 to 41), on a platform that highlighted its strong economic management and proposed introduction of an executive presidency, the ruling PNM won with 26 seats and 45.9 per cent of votes. The main opposition UNC took 15 seats and 29.7 per cent of votes and the newly established Congress of the People gained 22.6 per cent of votes but no seats. PNM’s majority was a few seats short of the two-thirds required to amend the constitution.
Following a threatened vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Manning in April 2010, parliament was dissolved. In the general election which followed in May 2010, a new five-party coalition, the People’s Partnership, led by UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and including the Congress of the People, won 29 of the 41 seats in the lower house and 42.9 per cent of the votes cast, soundly defeating the incumbent PNM (12 seats and 39.6 per cent). Persad-Bissessar became Prime Minister, the first woman in the country’s history to assume the role.
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