Voters in Trinidad and Tobago Monday chose to give the opposition United National Congress (UNC) the chance to run the southern Caribbean nation for the next five years, dumping the People’s National Movement (PNM) in spectacular fashion after 10 consecutive years.
Polls had opened at dawn across the federation but long before midnight, it was clear that the Indo-dominated United National Congress (UNC) of attorney Kamla Persad-Bissessar would trounce the Afro-supported PNM and grow from 19 to 26 seats from the 2020 contest. In doing so, the UNC picked up nearly all of the so-called marginal constituencies, while the PNM dropped from 22 to 13, in one of its worst performances since independence in 1962. The two Tobago seats, traditionally held by the PNM voted against the party which changed leadership just over a month ago when two-term prime minister Keith Rowley,75, retired, handing the office to attorney and former energy minister Stuart Young. In losing, Young, 50 became the shortest PM in local history with just five weeks at the helm. He has vowed to remain relevant.
