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 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Aug ...

, the Republic of

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

'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 Snap House of Assembly elections were held in Tobago on 6 December 2021 to elect all 15 members of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). The election was called following a deadlock created by the January 2021 elections which resulted in a tie betw ...

, where the party was wiped out of office in the

Tobago House of Assembly The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) is a unicameral devolved legislative body responsible for the island of Tobago within the unitary state of Trinidad and Tobago. The THA was re-established in 1980

after two decades in power. Polls pointed to widespread rejection among the population for both the governing

People's National Movement The People's National Movement (PNM) is the longest-serving and oldest active political party in Trinidad and Tobago. The party has dominated national and local politics for much of Trinidad and Tobago's history, contesting all elections sinc ...

and the opposition

United National Congress The United National Congress ( UNC or UNCTT) is one of two major political parties in Trinidad and Tobago and the current parliamentary opposition. The UNC is a Centre-left politics, centre-left party. It was founded in 1989 by Basdeo Panday, a ...

with both major parties and their leaders,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Keith Rowley Keith Christopher Rowley (born 24 October 1949) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian politician serving as the seventh prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, first elected into office on 9 September 2015 and again following the 2020 general elect ...

and

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Kamla Persad-Bissessar Kamla Persad-Bissessar ( ; born Kamla Susheila Persad, 22 April 1952), often referred to by her initials KPB, is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian lawyer, politician and educator who is the Leader of the Opposition of Trinidad and Tobago, politic ...

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 Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo is one of the nine regions of Trinidad and Tobago, and one of the five regions which form the Gulf of Paria coastline on Trinidad's West Coast. Its regional capital and commercial center is Couva. Couva–Tabaquite–Tal ...

Regional Corporation and Mayaro North in the Mayaro–Rio Claro Regional Corporation and also 22 boundary changes in six other corporations:

Chaguanas The Borough of Chaguanas is the largest municipality (83,489 at the 2011 census) and fastest-growing
– Afra ...

Point Fortin Point Fortin, officially the Republic Borough of Point Fortin, the smallest Borough in Trinidad and Tobago is located in southwestern Trinidad, about southwest of San Fernando, in the historic county of Saint Patrick. After the discovery of p ...

, Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo,

Penal–Debe Penal–Debe region is a region of Trinidad. The local government body is Penal–Debe Regional Corporation, a Regional Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago. The region has a land area of 246.91 km². Urban areas within Penal–Debe include ...

Siparia Siparia is a town in southern Trinidad, in Trinidad and Tobago, south of San Fernando, southwest of Penal and Debe and southeast of Fyzabad. Also called "The Sand City", it was originally a non- Mission Amerindian settlement. Siparia grew to be ...

and Mayaro–Rio Claro. It i the first election since the establishment of regional corporations—

Diego Martin Diego Martin is a town and is the urban commercial center and capital of the Diego Martin region in Trinidad and Tobago. Its location in the region is just on the south eastern border, west of the capital city of Port of Spain and east of the t ...

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

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s and female

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members the ...

. In 2019, both parties won control of seven of the fourteen corporations with the

(PNM) losing their minority control status in the

Sangre Grande Sangre Grande is the largest town in northeastern Trinidad and Tobago. It is located east of Arima and southwest of the village of Toco. It is the seat of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation and capital of the region. Overview and history ...

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

regional corporation, Lengua/Indian Walk in the

Princes Town Princes Town is a town within the Princes Town Regional Corporation, located on southern Trinidad island in Trinidad and Tobago. The population of the town is 28,335. History Founded as the Amerindian '' Mission of Savana Grande'', the town ...

Regional Corporation, Siparia West/Fyzabad in the

Regional Corporation, Cocal/Mafeking in the Mayaro–Rio Claro Regional Corporation, Enterprise South/Longdenville North in the

Chaguanas The Borough of Chaguanas is the largest municipality (83,489 at the 2011 census) and fastest-growing
– Afra ...

Borough Corporation, Caura/Paradise/Tacarigua in the

Tunapuna–Piarco Tunapuna–Piarco is one of the 9 regions of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the most populous region in the country by total population and the fifth-largest by total land area. Geographically located in Northern Trinidad, Tunapuna–Piarco shares its ...

Regional Corporation, Les Effort West/La Romaine, Marabella West and Marabella West/Vistabella in the

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

City Corporation while gaining two from the

, in the

San Juan–Laventille San Juan–Laventille is a region of Trinidad. It has a land area of 220.39 km². The San Juan–Laventille Regional Corporation is headquartered at MTS Plaza in Aranguez, San Juan. Other urban areas include Barataria, Laventille Laventill ...

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

and

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: * 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 Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

, 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.

Campaign slogans

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

Summary results

Elections are conducted under the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system. Preliminary results are shown below. Recounts are still ongoing.

Results by municipal corporation electoral area

Allocation of Aldermen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trinidadian local elections, 2023

Local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

2023 elections in the Caribbean August 2023 events in North America

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...