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THE dust has settled on the April 28 general election with the UNC-led coalition winning 26 seats while the PNM got 13 and the newcomer Tobago People’s Party (TPP), two.
The TPP’s success in securing the two Tobago seats, in its first general election, raises questions about the role, if any, the party is likely to play in the new Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration.
Will the party join the UNC or will it seek an accommodation with the government to advance Tobago’s development on the issues for which it has been advocating?
Speaking to reporters after the swearing-in ceremony for Persad-Bissessar and new Attorney General John Jeremie on May 1 at President’s House, St Ann’s, TPP political leader Farley Augustine held his cards close to his chest.
Asked if the party was willing to join the UNC, Augustine said, “That is not a conversation that we have had. It is not something I am contemplating at this point. For that to be a consideration, I will first need my political party to make that sort of decision and we have not had that conversation.”
The TPP’s only hint of a possible accommodation between the two parties came when it announced, in a post on its Facebook page on May 2, that a ‘Thank You’ motorcade would not be held on the island this weekend “due to the engagements of both the political leader and the MPs for Tobago East (David Thomas) and West (Joel Sampson) in Trinidad this weekend. It will be postponed until further notice.”
The post alluded to the swearing-in ceremony for members of the new Cabinet and government at President’s House on May 3.
After the TPP’s victory on April 28, Augustine had told supporters in Scarborough the party’s focus was not so much on being in the Cabinet but in the Parliament “to advocate and say the right things and negotiate on behalf of the people of Tobago. And I believe we have an extremely strong negotiating point starting tomorrow (April 29) morning.”
Commenting on the matter, political scientist Dr Bishnu Ragoonath believes the TPP and UNC have already “sealed a deal in a way as they move forward.”
He continued, “I don’t know what the details of the deal are but I think they have already agreed that they will be working together.
“Maybe they have determined what exactly they have agreed on, I don’t know. But it is a foregone conclusion that they have already joined. Now it is a matter of what does the deal entail for the country.”
During the election campaign, former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley and other PNM officials claimed the TPP was planning to join forces with the UNC to get greater autonomy for Tobago if the latter won the general election.
Now that the party has won the general election, Ragoonath wondered if an agreement would be reached between the two parties regarding the way forward for autonomy.
[caption id="attachment_1147279" align="alignnone" width="900"] Political scientist Dr Bishnu Ragoonath -[/caption]
But he contends that Augustine has never made clear what autonomy for Tobago would look like.
“Probably, the TPP needs to come out clearly and say what they mean by greater autonomy for Tobago. It is a nice phrase to say greater autonomy for Tobago. But what do they really want in that autonomy? To me, it’s unclear. I don’t know if they have made that clear to the UNC and the Prime Minister.”
Last December, the then House of Representatives passed the Tobago Island Government Bill 2021 by a vote of 20-10 but failed to pass the Constitution (Amendment) (Tobago Self-Government) Bill 2020.
The latter required a three-fifths majority for passage. This meant that the bill needed the support of 31 MPs but the vote on it was 21-16.
Apart from autonomy, Augustine also plans to raise with the new government what he called the THA’s “funding agenda” for outstanding disbursements owed to the assembly by the PNM administration.
He said aspects of the THA Act 40 of 1996, for which the assembly has complete jurisdiction, also “have not been realised,” owing to disregard by the former government.
'Election was PNM's loss'
Weighing in on the general election results, Ragoonath observed the PNM lost significant ground, including several of its strongholds.
“The UNC are the winners of the election but clearly the loss was the PNM because close to 100,000 PNM supporters refused to go out and vote and that is reflected across the country.
“When you look at the people who voted for them in 2020 and when you look at who voted for them in 2025, in nearly every constituency, PNM lost significant numbers of voters.”
He recalled Opposition Leader-designate and Arima MP Pennelope Beckles-Robinson saying in an interview that as many as 3,000 did not vote in the constituency.
Former PNM MPs Foster Cummings and Faris Al-Rawi, he said, also noted that voters in key polling divisions did not exercise their franchise.
“So there has to be a reason why people refused to go and vote for the PNM, a party which they have supported in the past.”
He attributed the PNM’s defeat to several factors, notably Dr Rowley’s selection of Stuart Young as his prime ministerial replacement, the acceptance of the Salaries Review Commission’s recommendations for increases for the Prime Minister, President, government members and other key officials and the then government’s perceived disregard for the issues affecting average citizens.
“The SRC’s recommendations contributed to it (loss). It was disrespect to the membership by the leadership. The leadership appeared to be only concerned about themselves.”
Ragoonath said citizens were overburdened by rising crime and the escalating cost of living.
“The fact is that the leadership has lost touch with the people on the ground and the people on the ground felt disrespected.
“A lot of the PNM’s policies did not seem to intersect with the needs of the people on the ground and the leadership ran away in their own bubble.”
He said the PNM’s rebuilding process would take time.
 
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