The Democratic Action Congress (DAC) was a

Tobago Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...

-based political party in

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 ...

History

The party was established in 1971 by

A. N. R. Robinson Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson (16 December 1926 – 9 April 2014; known as A. N. R. or "Ray" Robinson), was the third President of Trinidad and Tobago, serving from 19 March 1997 to 17 March 2003. He was also Trinidad and Tobago's third Prime ...

, and was originally an

autonomist Autonomism, also known as autonomist Marxism is an anti-capitalist left-wing political and social movement and theory. As a theoretical system, it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendenci ...

party. It first contested general elections in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

, Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p637 in which it won both Tobago seats, taken by Robinson and Winston Murray. The party went on to dominate 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

, and retained both seats in the 1981 elections. In 1986 the party merged into the

National Alliance for Reconstruction The National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) was the governing party in Trinidad and Tobago between 1986 and 1991. The party has been inactive since 2005. History The party was established in 1986, aiming to be a multi-racial party. Nohlen, D ...

. However, after the NAR lost control of the Tobago House of Assembly in 2001, an attempt was made to oust Hochoy Charles as the NAR leader in Tobago in 2004. As a result, Charles left the NAR and re-formed the DAC. In the 2005 elections the DAC routed the NAR (which was reduced to just 113 votes), but only won a single seat. In the 2007 national general elections the party failed to win a seat, despite forming an alliance known as the Tobago United Front. From this grouping emerged a new party— the

Tobago Organisation of the People The Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) is an autonomist political party in Tobago formed in 2008. Its current political leader is Ashworth Jack. The party was formed in 2008 from a split with the Democratic Action Congress. The TOP contested ...

. Whilst the majority of the DAC supported the merger, Charles withdrew from the merger claiming that the DAC still existed as a separate organisation. However, it did not put forward any candidates for the

2009 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2009. * Electoral calendar 2009 * 2009 United Nations Security Council election Caribbean * 2009 Antiguan general election * 2009 Aruban general election * 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendu ...

References

{{Trinidad and Tobago political parties Tobago Regionalist parties Defunct political parties in Trinidad and Tobago Political parties established in 1971 Political parties disestablished in 1986 Political parties established in 2004