Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

Pre­lim­i­nary re­sults re­leased by the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) from Mon­day’s Gen­er­al Elec­tion show the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) se­cur­ing 26 seats, the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) win­ning 13, and the To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty tak­ing two.

The UNC has, how­ev­er, re­quest­ed re­counts in three con­stituen­cies, which be­gan yes­ter­day.

Mon­day’s vot­er turnout, from the to­tal reg­is­tered elec­torate of 1,153,850, was ap­prox­i­mate­ly 54 per cent.

Guardian Me­dia checks showed this was low­er than in the 2020 Gen­er­al Elec­tion—dur­ing the pan­dem­ic pe­ri­od—when the turnout was 58.08 per cent from an elec­torate of 1,134,136.

The EBC re­leased the re­sults yes­ter­day, con­firm­ing the UNC re­moved the PNM from gov­ern­ment af­ter two terms.

The elec­tion was con­test­ed by 161 can­di­dates rep­re­sent­ing 17 po­lit­i­cal par­ties, plus three in­de­pen­dents.

The EBC stat­ed: “The pre­lim­i­nary tab­u­la­tion and ver­i­fi­ca­tion of re­sults from the par­lia­men­tary elec­tions held on Mon­day, April 28, 2025, have been com­plet­ed. Based on the pre­lim­i­nary count, the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) has emerged as the lead­ing par­ty in the par­lia­men­tary elec­tions, se­cur­ing 26 of the 41 con­stituen­cies. The Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) se­cured 13, and the To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty se­cured two.”

The to­tal num­ber of bal­lots cast was 617,712.

The UNC, led by Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar (now prime min­is­ter-elect), ob­tained 334,874 votes.

The PNM, led by par­ty po­lit­i­cal leader Dr Kei­th Row­ley and now for­mer prime min­is­ter Stu­art Young, won 220,160.

The TPP, led by To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly Chair­man Far­ley Au­gus­tine, ob­tained 13,857 bal­lots.

The EBC al­so stat­ed the votes for the oth­er par­ties con­test­ing (see chart).

The EBC stat­ed that the UNC has for­mal­ly re­quest­ed gen­er­al re­counts, in­clu­sive of poll cards, in the fol­low­ing con­stituen­cies:

• Arou­ca/Lopinot

• Mal­abar/Mau­si­ca

• San Fer­nan­do East

The Arou­ca/Lopinot seat was won by PNM’s Mar­vin Gon­za­les. The Mal­abar/Mau­si­ca seat was won by Do­minic Ro­maine and the San Fer­nan­do East seat by Bri­an Man­ning. All three re­counts com­menced at 3 pm yes­ter­day.

The EBC added, “These pre­lim­i­nary re­sults are pro­vi­sion­al and re­main sub­ject to fi­nal val­i­da­tion, pend­ing the con­clu­sion of the re­quest­ed re­counts.”

PNM votes drop, UNC in­creas­es each elec­tion since 2015

Guardian Me­dia’s re­search showed that Mon­day’s poll marked the PNM’s lat­est re­duc­tion in votes–and the UNC’s lat­est in­crease–since the 2015 polls.

Ac­cord­ing to the EBC re­port for the 2015 Gen­er­al Elec­tion, the PNM won that elec­tion with 378,729 votes amid a vot­er turnout of 66.8 per cent from an elec­torate of 734,271. The UNC, which lost that elec­tion, ob­tained 290,074 votes.

In the 2020 Gen­er­al Elec­tion, the PNM polled few­er votes–322,180–but still copped the pop­u­lar vote. The UNC in­creased its tal­ly to 309,654.

The to­tal num­ber of bal­lots cast in 2020 was 656,892. Vot­er turnout was 58.08 per cent from an elec­torate of 1,134,136.

But in Mon­day’s elec­tion, with a high­er elec­torate of 1,153,850 and a low­er vot­er turnout of 54 per cent, the PNM lost votes in both Trinidad and To­ba­go across the 41 con­stituen­cies.

How­ev­er, the UNC in­creased its vote count in the 39 seats it con­test­ed in Trinidad on­ly.

The TPP, in To­ba­go, al­so over­pow­ered not on­ly the PNM but al­so the par­ty it was once part of–the Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots (PDP)–and best­ed the In­no­v­a­tive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Al­liance (IDA) and oth­ers con­test­ing in the sis­ter isle.

The re­sults chart­ed by the EBC showed the fol­low­ing num­ber of votes for the 17 par­ties and three peo­ple who con­test­ed Mon­day’s elec­tion:

All Peo­ple’s Par­ty – 718

Class Ac­tion Re­form Move­ment – 22

Con­gress of the Peo­ple – 6,481

The Hyari­ma Move­ment – 24

In­no­v­a­tive De­vel­op­ment Al­liance – 143

Move­ment for Na­tion­al De­vel­op­ment – 560

Na­tion­al Coali­tion for Trans­for­ma­tion – 53

New Na­tion­al Vi­sion – 268

Na­tion­al Trans­for­ma­tion Al­liance – 5,932

Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots – 1,443

Pro­gres­sive Em­pow­er­ment Par­ty – 9,379

Pa­tri­ot­ic Front – 21,010

Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment – 220,160

Trinidad Hu­man­i­ty Cam­paign – 105

To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty – 13,857

Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress – 334,874

Uni­ty of the Peo­ple – 220

E Singh – 47

V John­son – 470

L George – 38

Re­ject­ed bal­lots – 1,908

To­tal – 617,712