PNM ‘prepared’ as THA election date announced

PNM Tobago Council political leader Ancil Dennis. -

With the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) now officially dissolved and an election date set, the People’s National Movement (PNM) has signalled confidence as it seeks to retake control of the assembly.

“The election date is no surprise,” PNM Tobago political leader Ancil Dennis told Newsday.

“We knew from the dissolution that the election would fall between January 12 and February 12, so we are prepared. We have been preparing for some time now.”

Under the THA Act, the assembly serves a four-year term before being dissolved, triggering an election within three months. That clock began on November 12.

Anticipating the timeline, the PNM started screening candidates as early as June and completed its slate for all 15 districts by August. Dennis said those candidates have been “on the ground” since, positioning the party for what he expects will be a reflection on the current administration’s performance.

“This election is going to be about the period 2021 to present,” he said.

“I wait to see what this administration will advance as their achievements and delivery to Tobagonians.”

Dennis said the party will soon unveil a “bold new vision” for Tobago, centred on boosting tourism, agriculture, renewable energy, job creation, housing and construction, and restoring opportunities for residents.

The announcement of the election date came on December 1, when THA Chief Secretary and Tobago People’s Party (TPP) leader Farley Augustine introduced his party’s candidates at the Calypso Rose Boulevard on the Milford Road Esplanade. Among them was former PNM Tobago West constituency chairman Keigon Denoon.

The upcoming poll follows an unprecedented election in 2021. The January 2021 THA election produced a historic 6-6 deadlock between the PNM and the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP), prompting an increase in districts from 12 to 15 and a return to the polls that December. The PDP won in a landslide, 14–1, ending nearly two decades of PNM dominance on the island.

By 2022, however, 13 PDP assemblymen resigned from the party, leaving founder Watson Duke as the lone PDP representative. A year later, the group aligned under Augustine to form the TPP, which went on to secure both Tobago East and Tobago West in the April 28 general election, reducing the PNM to 13 seats in the House of Representatives with the ruling UNC securing 26.