Sawt Falasteen - Opposition wins Trinidad and Tobago election, returning Persad-Bissessar as PM

Her centrist United National Congress (UNC) declared victory on Monday evening after unofficial preliminary results showed the party won more than half the seats in the House of Representatives, with the incumbent center-left People's National Movement (PNM) conceding defeat.

"Everything indicates that the UNC won the election," Persad-Bissessar told supporters, but urged the party not to be "pretentious or arrogant."

"We have a lot of work ahead of us," the 73-year-old said. "When UNC wins, we all win."

She had campaigned on promises of higher public wages, describing the election to be "for the mother walking the aisles of the grocery store with her children, always with a pen, a pencil, or a calculator in hand because food prices keep rising and she has to keep tabs on what she can buy."

Persad-Bissessar, who had held office from 2010 to 2015, ran against former energy minister Stuart Young, 50.

Young took over as prime minister in March when party colleague Keith Rowley stepped down after 10 years in the job to make way for new blood.

Young has accused his rival of peddling false promises, saying there was "no way that a government, any government, could afford" the additional $2 billion bill he said her program of pay increases would entail.

Rowley on Monday conceded defeat on behalf of his party, praising the organization and high turnout at polls.

"Tonight is not a good night for the PNM but it might be a good night for Trinidad and Tobago. By all accounts, things went very well," he told local media.

Some 1.1 million people in the small English-speaking Caribbean archipelago were eligible to vote in Monday's election for the 41 members of the House of Representatives.

Ballots have not been fully counted yet, but early data indicated a UNC victory.

Any party that emerges with a majority of seats will form a new government with its leader as prime minister.

- 'Vulnerable' to criminals -

The election takes place against the backdrop of a severe security crisis in the nation better known for its carnival, nature and sandy beaches.

A total of 623 murders were recorded last year -- up from 577 in 2023 -- many of them linked to Latin America-based criminal gangs, including Venezuela's infamous Tren de Aragua, which the United States has designated a terrorist group.

According to a US Department of State report from March, the murder rate of 37 per 100,000 people made Trinidad and Tobago the sixth most dangerous nation in the world last year.

The report noted the country's southern border, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Venezuelan coast, was "vulnerable to illegal migration, drug trafficking, and human trafficking and smuggling."

To try and restore order, the government imposed a state of emergency between December and mid-April.

The Caribbean's second-largest producer of natural gas, Trinidad and Tobago has also been battling an economic downturn blamed partly on a decline in production.

It had been banking on exploitation of the Dragon gas field in nearby Venezuelan waters, but has seen its licence withdrawn by the administration of US President Donald Trump under renewed sanctions against that country.

I.Saadi--SF-PST