T&T election May 24

May 24 is the date for the general election in Trinidad and Tobago. Nomination Day is set for May 3, 2010.

Prime Minister Patrick manning had been under pressure to name the date after he dissolved Parliament on April 8. He had said that he was in no hurry noting that the election date could have been pushed to July 8 if necessary.

The opposition parties have been in election mode since the Parliament was dissolved on the eve of a UNC sponsored no confidence motion in Manning, who told reporters that he shut down Parliament to prevent the opposition from slandering his government.

The UNC and the COP have agreed on a unity pact that will allow the parties to share seats in order to fight the PNM on a one-on-one basis. They have not determined which seats will be allocated to each party.

However, they have a deal not to field candidates in Tobago. The PNM will be facing the Tobago Organization of the People (TOP) candidates in both Tobago seats.

The PNM won the 2007 general election with 26 of the 41 seats in the House of Representatives. The UNc held the other 15 and the COp had none. However the combined opposition vote was just under 54 per cent.