T&T Local Government Elections To Be Held By Year End

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Apr. 21, (CMC) – Local government elections will be held in Trinidad and Tobago before the end of the year, according to Rural Development and Local Government Minister, Franklin Khan.

Khan repeated the declaration, on Tuesday, during consultations on local government reform that will see the gradual devolution of power to the island’s 14 local government councils. Tobago is administrated, at the local level, by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

Previously, Khan had promised that the elections will not be postponed “beyond the constitutionally appointed time”, but his declarations on the matter have increasingly narrowed the date down to sometime before the end of the year.

“There will be no postponement of local government elections by this administration,” Khan declared at a consultation hosted in the southern borough of Point Fortin.

He said the constitutional limit for staging of the elections extends to January 2017, but that THA elections are due around that time “and so it won’t be advisable to hold both elections at the same time.”

According to the Trinidad and Tobago constitution, the life of the island’s regional councils, boroughs and cities comes to an end three months after the October 2016 anniversary of their election.

It is widely speculated that the elections will be held in November.

The last local government elections were held on October 21, 2013.

Then, the parliamentary opposition, the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) won in eight municipalities while the United National Congress (UNC)-led coalition eventually held on to six municipalities, following a tie in the central region of Chaguanas.

The PNM administration has set itself a timeline of two years to change the system of local government, granting councils the power to collect taxes, to install fulltime local government representatives and develop a system for eliminating nominated mayors and council chairmen.