Tobago Council of the People's National Movement

Tobago Council of the People's National Movement
Abbreviation	PNM
Leader	Ancil Dennis
Chairperson	Learie Paul
Secretary	Akissi London
Leader in House of Assembly	Kelvon Morris (Minority Leader)
Founded	1998; 27 years ago (1998)
Headquarters	PNM Tobago Council Office Robinson Street Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago
Newspaper	MAGNUM
Youth wing	PNM Tobago East Youth League PNM Tobago West Youth League
Women's wing	PNM Tobago East Women's League PNM Tobago West Women's League
Membership (2020)	10,000[1]
Ideology	Liberalism[2][3] Social liberalism[4] Nationalism Centralization
Political position	Centre[5][6] to centre-left [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
National affiliation	People's National Movement
Regional affiliation	West Indies Federal Labour Party (1957–1962)
Colors	Red
Senate	3 / 31 (19 August 2020 – present)
House of Representatives (Tobagonian seats)	2 / 2 (7 September 2015 – present)
Tobago House of Assembly	1 / 15 (6 December 2021 – present)
Election symbol
Balisier flower
Website
pnmtt.live/arm/tobago-council/
Politics of Trinidad and Tobago Political parties Elections

The Tobago Council of the People's National Movement,[14] also known as the Tobago Council of the PNM, PNM Tobago or PNM Tobago Council, is the longest-serving and oldest active political party in Tobago.[15] The party is the autonomous branch of the Trinidad and Tobago People's National Movement operating in Tobago. While its political leader acts in the local capacity, they also serve as a deputy leader on a national level. The party's executives organize for both local and national election campaigns. There have been three PNM Chief Secretaries and administrations.

Founded in 1998,[16] it is the largest and most successful political party in modern Tobagonian politics. With the exception of 2010, the party has won the biggest share of the vote at the Trinidad and Tobago general elections since 2000 and has governed the Tobago House of Assembly uninterruptedly, winning every Tobago House of Assembly election from 2001 until 2021.

The Tobago PNM currently hold 2 of 2 Tobagonian seats in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament and 1 of 15 seats in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). Former Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis is the current and youngest political leader of the PNM after being elected unopposed in the 2020 People's National Movement Tobago leadership election with Kelvon Morris, the party's lone elected assemblymember serving as the party's leader in the THA.

With its predecessor organizations and despite not being a socialist party, it was a member of the democratic socialist West Indies Federal Labour Party in the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation from 1957 to 1962, winning the Tobago seat in the 1958 elections.

As of January 2020, the party has roughly 10,000 registered members.[17]

Elected representatives (current)

Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago

Members of the House of Representatives since the 7 September 2015 general election:

Member of Parliament		Constituency	First Elected
	Ayanna Webster-Roy	Tobago East	7 September 2015
	Shamfa Cudjoe	Tobago West	7 September 2015

Members of the Senate

Member of Parliament		Appointed
	Laurence Hislop[18]	22 March 2022
	Nigel de Freitas[19]	23 September 2015
	Hassel Bacchus[20]	19 August 2020

Tobago House of Assembly

Member of the Tobago House of Assembly		Electoral District
	Kelvon Morris	Darrel Spring/Whim

Notable party members

Member		Position
	A. N. R. Robinson	Member of Parliament for Tobago East (1961-1976)
	Keith Rowley	Candidate for Tobago West (1981)
	Tracy Davidson-Celestine	First female political leader (2020–2022) Assemblymember for Lambeau/Signal Hill (2021)

Electoral performance

West Indies

See also: West Indies Federal Labour Party, 1958 West Indies federal elections, West Indies Federation, and Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation

Election		Party Group			Leader	Votes		Seats		Position	Government
						No.	Share	No.	Share
	1958[21]			WIFLP	Eric Williams (National party leader)	6,626	62.2%	1 / 1	100.0%	1st	WIFLP

Trinidad and Tobago general elections

Red indicates the seats won by the PNM at the 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election.

Election[22]		Party leader	Votes			Seats		Position	Government
			No.	%	±	No.	±
	1956	Eric Williams (National party leader)	5,529	47.54%		0 / 1		2nd	PNM
	1961		8,208	68.67%	21.13	2 / 2	2	1st	PNM
	1966		?	?	?	2 / 2		1st	PNM
	1971		2,675	90.65%	?	2 / 2		1st	PNM
	1976		5,933	42.41%	48.24	0 / 2	2	2nd	PNM
	1981	George Chambers (National party leader)	7,503	42.66%	0.25	0 / 2		2nd	PNM
	1986		6,357	31.90%	10.76	0 / 2		2nd	NAR
	1991	Patrick Manning (National party leader)	5,622	30.08%	1.82	0 / 2		2nd	PNM
	1995		6,949	36.80%	6.72	0 / 2		2nd	UNC–NAR
	2000	Orville London	8,672	47.46%	10.66	1 / 2	1	Tie	UNC
	2001		11,225	61.38%	13.92	2 / 2	1	1st	PNM Minority
	2002		13,432	65.75%	4.37	2 / 2		1st	PNM
	2007		12,534	55.26%	10.49	2 / 2		1st	PNM
	2010		12,305	44.09%	11.17	0 / 2	2	2nd	PP
	2015		18,560	74.34%	30.25	2 / 2	2	1st	PNM
	2020	Tracy Davidson-Celestine	16,402	60.76%	13.58	2 / 2		1st	PNM

Tobago County Council

Election[23]		Leaders	Votes			Seats		Position	Control
			No.	%	±	No.	±
	1959	Eric Williams (National party leader)	8,285	53.4		11 / 14		1st	PNM
	1968[24]		?	?	?	10 / 11	1	1st	PNM
	1971		N/A	N/A	N/A	11 / 11	1	1st	PNM
	1977		6,326	52.6	N/A	7 / 11	4	1st	PNM

Tobago House of Assembly

Red indicates seats won by the PNM in the 2017 Tobago House of Assembly election.

Election[23]		Leaders	Votes			Seats		Position	Government
			No.	%	±	No.	±
	1980	Eric Williams (National party leader)	7,097	44.4		4 / 12		2nd	DAC
	1984	George Chambers (National party leader)	8,200	41.4	3.0	1 / 12	3	2nd	DAC
	1988	Patrick Manning (National party leader)	5,977	35.8	5.6	1 / 12		2nd	DAC
	1992		6,555	36.7	0.9	1 / 12		2nd	NAR
	1996		5,023	33.6	4.1	1 / 12		2nd	NAR
	2001	Orville London	10,500	46.7	13.3	8 / 12	7	1st	PNM
	2005		12,137	58.4	11.7	11 / 12	3	1st	PNM
	2009		12,311	51.2	7.2	8 / 12	3	1st	PNM
	2013		19,976	61.2	10.0	12 / 12	4	1st	PNM
	2017	Kelvin Charles	13,310	54.7	6.5	10 / 12	2	1st	PNM
	January 2021	Tracy Davidson-Celestine	13,288	50.4	4.3	6 / 12	4	1st	Caretaker
	December 2021		11,943*	40.8*	9.6*	1 / 15	5	2nd	PDP

Leaders

The leaders of the People's National Movement Tobago Council who additionally serve as deputy leaders of the party nationally have been as follows (any acting leaders indicated in italics):

Key:   PNM   PDP MaL: Majority Leader MiL: Minority Leader

Leader			Term		Position	Chief Secretary
1	Orville London		2001	3 July 2016	MaL 2001–2017		himself
2	Kelvin Charles		3 July 2016	26 January 2020	MaL 2017–2020		himself
3	Tracy Davidson-Celestine		26 January 2020 (Elected)	1 May 2022	None		Kelvin Charles
							Ancil Dennis
							Augustine
4	Ancil Dennis		1 May 2022 (Elected)		None		Augustine

Executive positions

These are the positions currently held by the Executive of the PNM Tobago Council:[25]

Position		Officeholder
	Political Leader	Ancil Dennis
	Chairperson	Learie Paul
	Vice-Chairperson	Charles Adams
	Lady Vice-Chairperson	Kamaria London
	General Secretary	Akissi London
	Election Officer	Kurt Wilson
	Public Relations Officer	Shomari Hector
	Operations Officer	Ancil Thorne
	Field Officer	Pete Gray
	Labour Relations Officer	Kenneth Thomas
	Welfare Officer	Latoya Horsford
	Social Media Officer	Monique Perreira
	Youth Officer	Quincy Trim
	Assistant General Secretary	Keston Williams
	Research Officer	Aisha McKnight
	Education Officer	Gerald Brown
	Treasurer	Maxslon Roberts

External links

• Official website
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Instagram account
• Tobago Council website (defunct)

See also

• People's National Movement
• 2020 Tobago Council of the People's National Movement leadership election
• Chief Secretary of Tobago
• Presiding Officer of the Tobago House of Assembly
• 2022 People's National Movement leadership election
• List of political parties in Trinidad and Tobago

Notes

1. "10,000 to vote in Tobago PNM election". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 18 January 2020. Archived from the original on 11 March 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
2. Lowenthal, David; Comitas, Lambros, eds. (1973). The Aftermath of Sovereignty: West Indian Perspectives (PDF). Anchor Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-0385043045. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
3. Griffith, Ivelaw L. (1993). The quest for security in the Caribbean : problems and promises in subordinate states. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-1-56324-089-8. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
4. "Caribbean Elections | People's National Movement". caribbeanelections.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
5. Derbyshire, J. Denis; Derbyshire, Ian (2016). Encyclopedia of World Political Systems. Routledge. p. 322. ISBN 9781317471561. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
6. Encyclopedia of world political systems. Sharpe Reference. 15 April 2016. ISBN 978-1-317-47156-1. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
7. "Labour leader Jacinda Ardern not the only one wanting to 'do this'". NZ Herald. 4 August 2017. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
8. "Let's do this: Everyone else who has used Labour's new slogan". Stuff. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
9. "Private Wealth Market Brief" (PDF). Guardian Group. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
10. "Trinidad and Tobago Economy". Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
11. "Economic Outline of Trinidad and Tobago – Bank of Scotland International Trade Portal". bankofscotlandtrade.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
12. "Trinidad and Tobago / Wirtschaftsanalysen – Coface". coface.at. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
13. Skard, Torild (2015). Women of Power: Half a Century of Female Presidents and Prime Ministers Worldwide. Policy Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-1-4473-1580-3. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
14. "THE TOBAGO COUNCIL OF THE PNM (@pnmtobago) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
15. "BTI 2020 Trinidad and Tobago Country Report". BTI Blog. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
16. "PNM Shares More Tributes to Manning". www.guardian.co.tt. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
17. "10,000 to vote in Tobago PNM election". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 18 January 2020. Archived from the original on 11 March 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
18. "Hislop ready to serve country as a senator". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
19. "Senate to debate THA Bill on March 2". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 22 February 2021. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
20. "Congratulations to Senator the Honourable Hassel Bacchusthe". Facebook. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
21. "Report on the Election of Members to the Federal House of Representatives from the Territory of T&T 1958 (25th March 1958) | Elections And Boundaries Commission". Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
22. "Publications and Reports | Elections And Boundaries Commission". Archived from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
23. "Publications and Reports | Elections And Boundaries Commission". Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
24. Meighoo, Kirk (1 January 2001). ""Voting trends point to stalemate", Sunday Guardian, February 4, 2001, p.14". Sunday Guardian. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
25. "Ancil Dennis elected Political Leader of the PNM Tobago Council". 103FM: First, Finest, Forever. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.