The 2025 gen­er­al elec­tion is ex­pect­ed to fea­ture 161 can­di­dates from nine po­lit­i­cal par­ties com­pet­ing for 41 seats.

This year’s elec­tion is ex­pect­ed to at­tract far more can­di­dates com­pared to the 2020 polls, giv­en that 12 po­lit­i­cal par­ties have al­ready ex­pressed an in­ter­est in the elec­tion which is con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly due by No­vem­ber.

In the 2020 gen­er­al elec­tions, 146 can­di­dates were nom­i­nat­ed by 19 po­lit­i­cal par­ties. There were al­so four in­de­pen­dent can­di­dates, bring­ing the to­tal num­ber to 150.

In 2015, there were 137 can­di­dates rep­re­sent­ing 17 po­lit­i­cal par­ties to­geth­er with five in­de­pen­dent can­di­dates.

Fast-track to 2025 and so far, nine of 12 par­ties, so far, will of­fer 161 can­di­dates to the vot­ing pop­u­la­tion ac­cord­ing to a tab­u­la­tion done by the Guardian Me­dia.

Past elec­tions have shown that in­de­pen­dent can­di­dates al­ways jump in­to the elec­tion race at the last minute.

If this should hap­pen in 2025, the over­all num­ber of can­di­dates could in­crease be­yond 161.

The 11 com­pet­ing par­ties iden­ti­fied in the up­com­ing elec­tions are the  Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM);  Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC); Pa­tri­ot­ic Front (PF); Na­tion­al Trans­for­ma­tion Al­liance (NTA); Pro­gres­sive Em­pow­er­ment Par­ty (PEP); Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots (PDP); Con­gress of the Peo­ple (COP); Hon­est, Op­por­tu­ni­ty, Per­for­mance and Em­pow­er­ment (HOPE); To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty (TTP); New Na­tion­al Vi­sion (NNV), and All Peo­ples Par­ty (APP).

The Move­ment for So­cial Jus­tice (MSJ) which was un­suc­cess­ful in the 2020 gen­er­al elec­tion will de­cide in the com­ing weeks if it would en­ter the elec­tion race or not.

“All will be re­vealed in time,” MSJ’s leader David Ab­du­lah said when con­tact­ed.

MSJ is list­ed as the 12th po­lit­i­cal par­ty.

Screen­ing un­der­way

PNM

The PNM was the first to get off the elec­tions block when the par­ty be­gan screen­ing nom­i­nees last Au­gust.

So far, the par­ty has se­lect­ed 33 of its 41 can­di­dates. Of that sum, 13 of the 33 can­di­dates are in­cum­bents. 

There have been calls for nom­i­na­tions for Diego Mar­tin West con­stituen­cy held by in­cum­bent Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley, who on Jan­u­ary 3 this year an­nounced that he would not of­fer him­self in the 2025 gen­er­al elec­tion, mark­ing an end to his 45-year ca­reer in pub­lic ser­vice.

The par­ty al­so has to hunt for a D’Abadie/O’Meara can­di­date af­ter MP Lisa Mor­ris-Ju­lian and two of her chil­dren per­ished in a fire at her Ari­ma home on De­cem­ber 16.

Elect­ed in 2020, Mor­ris-Ju­lian was re­s­e­lect­ed to con­test the seat by the par­ty but lost her life in the blaze days lat­er.

The PNM found it­self look­ing for a third can­di­date last month when in­cum­bent Laven­tille East/Mor­vant MP Adri­an Leonce with­drew from screen­ing, cit­ing per­son­al is­sues.

In the 2020 elec­tion, the PNM won 22 seats cap­tur­ing 322,180 votes.

UNC

The UNC ob­tained 19 seats af­ter re­ceiv­ing 309,654 votes in the last gen­er­al elec­tion.

UNC po­lit­i­cal leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has on­ly named eight of the par­ty’s 39 can­di­dates.

The UNC will not con­test the two To­ba­go seats.

Last Wednes­day, the par­ty con­tin­ued its screen­ing process.

Last month, the UNC be­gan ef­forts to forge al­liances with small­er po­lit­i­cal par­ties and promi­nent trade unions to top­ple the PNM in the elec­tion bat­tle.

The par­ties in­clude PEP and the Move­ment for Na­tion­al De­vel­op­ment head­ed by Garvin Nicholas.

“We are more like­ly than not to just sup­port the UNC,” Nicholas told the Guardian Me­dia.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar is aim­ing to win 25 of the 41 seats.

PEP

PEP’s leader Phillip Alexan­der con­firmed his par­ty had al­ready picked four of its eight can­di­dates who will con­test seats in PNM strong­holds.

Hav­ing en­tered in­to a coali­tion with the UNC, Alexan­der said he awaits Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s plan.

Alexan­der is eye­ing Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral where he lives.

But that de­ci­sion, he said, rests on the shoul­ders of Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

How­ev­er, Alexan­der said con­test­ing Diego Mar­tin West might be a bet­ter op­tion.

“Our gen­er­al coun­cil may look at that be­cause I am con­sid­ered one of the strongest can­di­dates in the par­ty.”

NTA

Leader of the NTA Gary Grif­fith has al­ready an­nounced the names of 13 can­di­dates.

Grif­fith will chal­lenge PNM’s in­cum­bent Ter­rence Deyals­ingh for the St Joseph seat.

The for­mer po­lice com­mis­sion­er said the NTA would fight as many con­stituen­cies as pos­si­ble.

“How­ev­er, we don’t want to go in­to over­load...re­mem­ber we have al­ready signed an MOU with oth­er po­lit­i­cal par­ties, so we are ob­vi­ous­ly mon­i­tor­ing to see if they are in­ter­est­ed in vy­ing for seats as well. We don’t want to take the li­on’s share of every­thing,” he said dur­ing a brief in­ter­view last Wednes­day.

Last month, the NTA of­fered the COP and HOPE a place in its po­lit­i­cal arrange­ment.

HOPE

HOPE’s deputy po­lit­i­cal leader Louis Lee Sing said the par­ty will con­test five seats “that we feel are winnable. If we win three out of the five seats on elec­tion night no one will be able to form a gov­ern­ment with­out us.”

Lee Sing kept the five con­stituen­cies close to his chest.

Three can­di­dates have been se­lect­ed and are al­ready work­ing on the ground to gar­ner votes.

Last Sep­tem­ber, HOPE stat­ed it would be con­test­ing 13 con­stituen­cies but had a change of heart.

Kirt Sin­nette who served as COP’s in­ter­im po­lit­i­cal leader up to last month said the par­ty want­ed to screen and se­lect ten can­di­dates for the elec­tion race.

He said with Prakash Ra­mad­har’s re­turn, these mat­ters will be de­cid­ed up­on at a meet­ing soon.

Pa­tri­ot­ic Front

Pa­tri­ot Front (PF)—a first-time gen­er­al elec­tion con­tender will vie for all 41 con­stituen­cies.

The par­ty was formed in 2019 by Mick­ela Pan­day, daugh­ter of the late Bas­deo Pan­day—founder of the UNC.

Nom­i­na­tions would close for PF to­day, Jan­u­ary 13.

There­after, the par­ty will screen its sec­ond phase of nom­i­nees and name its en­tire slate.

Mean­while, re­spond­ing to a What­sApp mes­sage, NNV leader Fuad Abu Bakr con­firmed his par­ty would con­test a few seats but could not give a de­fin­i­tive num­ber.

Both TPP and PDP head­ed by Far­ley Au­gus­tine and Wat­son Duke each promised to fight the To­ba­go East and West seats.

The coun­try’s newest po­lit­i­cal par­ty APP formed by Kezel Jack­son will al­so com­pete in the elec­tion race.