2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election
The 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election will be held on Monday, 10 August 2020 to elect 41 members to the 12th Trinidad and Tobago Republican Parliament. It will be the first parliamentary election where a major Tobagonian party, The Tobago Council of the PNM, and two of the three largest parties elected in 2015, the UNC and the COP, are led by women.
President Paula-Mae Weekes, with the advice of Prime Minister Keith Rowley, dissolved Parliament and issued the writs for the election on 3 July 2020.
Voters will elect the 41 members to the House of Representatives by first-past-the-post voting.
After the previous election, the People's National Movement, led by Prime Minister Keith Rowley formed a majority government. The main opponent to the People's National Movement government is the United National Congress, led by Kamla Persad-Bissessar. The Congress of the People is the sole other party in Parliament, represented by a single MP.
Electoral system
The 41 members of the House of Representatives are elected by first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies. Registered voters must be 18 years and over, must reside in an electoral district/constituency for at least two months prior to the qualifying date, be a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago or a Commonwealth citizen residing legally in Trinidad and Tobago for a period of at least one year.If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government, with its leader as Prime Minister. If the election results in no single party having a majority, then there is a hung parliament. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition government.
Parties and candidates
Political parties registered with the Elections and Boundaries Commission can contest the general election as a party.The leader of the party commanding a majority of support in the House of Representatives is the person who is called on by the president to form a government as Prime Minister, while the leader of the largest party or coalition not in government becomes the Leader of the Opposition.
The People's National Movement and the United National Congress have been the two biggest parties, in addition to having supplied every Prime Minister since 1991.
On 14 July 2020, the leader of the Patriotic Front, Mickela Panday, announced that her party will no longer be contesting the 2020 elections due to lack of time to prepare for the August 2020 polls.
The following registered parties are contesting the general election:
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad only
Tobago only
Marginal seats
The following lists identify and rank seats by the margin by which the party's candidate finished behind the winning candidate in the 2015 election.For information purposes only, seats that have changed hands through subsequent by elections have been noted. Seats whose members have changed party allegiance are ignored.
Members of Parliament not standing for re-election
Trinidad
Candidates By Constituency
Trinidad
Tobago
Campaign slogans and songs
Opinion polling
The North American Caribbean Teachers Association based in New York, and led by political analyst Vishnu Bisram, pollster Nigel Henry's Solution by Simulation and pollster Louis Bertrand's H.H.B & Associates has commissioned opinion polling for the next general election sampling the electorates' opinions.Seat projections
Individual polls
| Date | Pollster | Sample size | People's National Movement| | United National Congress| | COP | Lead | |||
| 10 Aug 2020 | 2020 general election | – | |||||||
| July 24-31 2020 | 473 | 43 | 38 | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 5 | |
| July 25 2020 | – | 44 | 45 | – | – | – | – | 1 | |
| July 2020 | 600 | 35 | 29 | – | – | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| 7 Sep 2015 | 2015 general election | – | 51.7 | 39.6 | – | – | 6.0 | 3.7 | 12.1 |
Regional/Subnational polls
Tobago
Moruga
St. Joseph
Satisfaction
Preferred Prime Minister
Government direction
| Date | Polling organisation | Interview Mode | Sample size | Right direction | Wrong direction | Lead |
| 24 September 2017 | Face-to-face | 390 | n/a | 89 | n/a | |
| 1–3 September 2017 | Telephone | 301 | n/a | 83 | n/a | |
| July 2017 | Face-to-face | 410 | n/a | 85 | n/a | |
| June 2017 | Face-to-face | 380 | n/a | 83 | n/a |