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The 2020 United National Congress internal election was held on Sunday, 6 December 2020, after
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, the current leader of the UNC, faced losses commencing in January 2013 with the wipeout of her People's Partnership -led administration from 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
at the 2013 election, loss in the
2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on 7 September 2015. 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 Movem ...
and loss in the
2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, 10 August 2020, to elect 41 members to the 12th Trinidad and Tobago Republican Parliament. It was the 14th election since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1962 and th ...
. The candidates for political leader were incumbent Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Team Star against former member of parliament for St. Augustine and former Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment in the People's Partnership's government, Vasant Bharath, on Team Lotus. Former senator and
Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...
in the People's Partnership's government,
Devant Maharaj Devant Maharaj is a Trinidad and Tobago politician, and social activist. He is a leading member of the United National Congress. On 27 June 2011, he became a member of the Senate of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and Minister of Transport ...
, was an early candidate for political leader, but was never formally nominated as he dropped out on nomination day on the 15th of November 2020, citing irregularities in the voting process. He endorsed Vasant Bharath and Team Lotus. Kamla Persad-Bissessar won with of 87.15% of the votes, while Vasant Bharath got 12.85% of the votes.


Background

Focus on the leadership election occurred when Anita Haynes, Public Relations Officer of the
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 party. It was founded in 1989 by Basdeo Panday, a Trinidadian lawyer, ...
, was questioned by reporters on whether or not the
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 would resign.
Devant Maharaj Devant Maharaj is a Trinidad and Tobago politician, and social activist. He is a leading member of the United National Congress. On 27 June 2011, he became a member of the Senate of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and Minister of Transport ...
was a leading figure in calling for Kamla Persad-Bissessar to step down as political leader. He actively called for her to step down on
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...
and on
billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
s he had put up. On the 27th of October 2020, Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced the date for the internal election to be held on Sunday the 6th of December 2020.


Results

Kamla Persad-Bissessar won with a sweeping victory of 87.15% of the votes, while Vasant Bharath got 12.85% of the votes. On election night, Persad-Bissessar said her Team Star was on the path to defeat Bharath's Team Lotus. She called for unity within the party and said their main political opponent was the
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 ...
. She claimed under her continued leadership that she would work to make the party more united and stronger. She also acknowledged that there was some reports of elections issues, but that overall everything had gone well. Persad-Bissessar said that the low voter turnout was due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, as it was in the general election. Bharath conceded shortly after midnight and congratulated Persad-Bissessar and wished her success. He also stated the party needs to determine the reason for the low voter turnout then they need to "inspire their ground troops" to win the next general election. Bharath stated that he was willing to work with Persad-Bissessar to help rebuild the party. However, he mentioned that there were irregularities in the election which he had warned about and many were unable to vote. He said that active campaigner on Persad-Bissessar's team were presiding officers, his team was not granted access to a revised list of electors, that there were reports of voters being verbally abused and intimidated, there was paraphernalia of the Star Team being distributed at some precincts, and that his father John Bharath, a founding member of the UNC, was not on the voting list and that there were other people who were not on the revised voter list who were allowed to vote.
Devant Maharaj Devant Maharaj is a Trinidad and Tobago politician, and social activist. He is a leading member of the United National Congress. On 27 June 2011, he became a member of the Senate of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and Minister of Transport ...
, who dropped out of the election before nomination day and supported Bharath, called on Persad-Bissessar to embrace all and rebuild the party. The election had the lowest voter turnout for an UNC internal election with only 17,066 members out of 120,000+ members coming out to vote. This follows after the last internal election in 2017 was recorded to have the lowest voter turnout. Founder of the party,
Basdeo Panday Basdeo Panday (; born 25 May 1933) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian lawyer, politician, trade unionist, economist, actor, and former civil servant who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001. He was the first ...
, commented before the election that the UNC had no future under the leadership of Kamla Persad-Bissessar nor Vassant Bharath and would eventually die out. He reiterated again after the election results that the UNC would die, pointing that it had the lowest voter turn out for an UNC internal election and says that the COVID-19 pandemic had nothing to do with it as the last internal election was the same. He further said that Kamla Persad-Bissessar killed the party "beyond repair" and that the only way to end the "tribal politics" was for a new party to be formed. However, political analyst Mukesh Basdeo disagreed with Panday, saying that the party still got a significant number of votes despite the COVID-19 pandemic and that had the election been held in other conditions then it would have showed a decline in the interest of the party. He also stated that the pandemic deterred people from coming out to vote. He noted that smaller third parties were crushed in the 2020 general election and that most of the votes went to the two major parties, the UNC and the PNM.


Candidates

Roles in bold are currently held.


See also

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2013 Trinidadian local elections Election date * Elections come due July 26, 2013. However, as these elections are not part of the Trinidad & Tobago Constitution ; they can be delayed by Parliament . * October 21, 2013 has been announced as the date of the election. *Nomination ...
*
2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on 7 September 2015. 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 Movem ...
*
2017 Tobago House of Assembly election House of Assembly elections were held in Tobago on 23 January 2017. The result was a victory for the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement, People's National Movement, which won ten of the twelve seats in the Tobago House of Assembly. ...
*
2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, 10 August 2020, to elect 41 members to the 12th Trinidad and Tobago Republican Parliament. It was the 14th election since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1962 and th ...
*
2022 People's National Movement leadership election The 2022 People's National Movement (PNM) leadership election, the last one for the PNM before the 2025 general election, has not yet been launched, but the current party leader and Prime Minister Keith Rowley has indicated he would most likely ...


Notes


References

{{reflist


External links


Official website
2020 in Trinidad and Tobago
Tobago Tobago () is an island and ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trinidad and about off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. It also lies to the southeast of Grenada. The offic ...