After weeks of intense campaigning the election that shocked even the closest within the governing party is taking place two and a half years ahead of schedule.And if polls are accurate, Trinidad and Tobago will have its first female prime minister when the results are declared Monday night.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning called the snap election in February, eight days after he advised the president to dissolve Parliament. He said it was to avoid a no confidence vote and stop the opposition from slandering his government. Later in the campaign he told supporters it was no so; he had planned the date since October last year.
Manning has been Prime Minister since he was selected by then President Arthur N.R. Robinson to replace Basdeo Panday in 2001. Panday had won a majority in 2000 but his government fell under the weight of corruption allegations.
In the 2001 vote his UNC and the opposition PNM led by Manning won 18 seats each but Robinson chose Manning over the incumbent, who had the higher popular vote, stating that the country needed a government of spirituality and morality.
But Manning soon became, in his own words, "the most vilified" prime minister ever and his government collapsed because of serious divisions within his own party over his open war with Keith Rowley who was booted out of cabinet for raising concerns about corruption in the government.
Ironically the man who was to be the leader with integrity was facing accusations of mismanagement, squandering the state's resources, corruption, nepotism and arrogance.
And his own people - Rowley in particular - were publicly challenging him, especially for turning a blind eye to corruption and for defending the man who had come to symbolise all that was corrupt - Canadian Calder Hart.
Against this background, Manning's principal opponent, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, is confident of victory for her People's Partnership coalition that had to be hastily put together when Manning dropped an election on an unsuspecting opposition.
Persad-Bissessar had just become leader of the United National Congress (UNC) in an internal election in January in which she challenged and defeated 10-1 the party's founder and her own political guru, Basdeo Panday.
She had been in politics for two decades with an impressive and unblemished record. Her rise to the office of opposition leader offered the opportunity to begin the process of uniting the opposition that she promised during the leadership campaign.
Manning said during the election campaign that his surprise election call caught the opposition with "its pants down" but Persad-Bissessar surprised Manning and sealed a unity deal with the Congress of the People (COP), the new political party that robbed the UNC of more than 100,000 votes in 2007 and might have caused Manning to win.
COP had been discussing unity with other political groups and once the UNC came on board, the opposition agreed to unite under Persad-Bissessar.
There are 41 constituencies at stake with one on one battles in each, except for a few constituencies where there are 18 independents and candidates of a fringe organization linked to Iman Yasin Abu-Bakr, the leader of the Muslimeen sect that led a failed coup in Trinidad and Tobago in 1990.
The People's Partnership comprises the UNC as the principal partner, the COP, the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), the Movement for Social Justice and the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP).
The New National Vision (NNV), led by Abu Bakr's son, is fighting 12 seats.
Polls opened at six Monday morning and will remain open until 6 p.m. or later if there are people in the voting compound at the time of the official close. A CARICOM observer team is in the country to monitor the voting.
More than one million people are registered to vote.
Most analysts have said it will be a close finish but give the edge to the People's Partnership. The PNM has had a difficult time dealing with allegations of corruption, especially since it was coming from within its own ranks as well as the opposition.
Rowley told PNM supporters to vote for him but not for Manning because what is more important is the party and what it stands for. He said an election is not the time to throw the captain overboard but added that once the ship is in dry dock there will be time enough for a court martial.
His campaign seemed to be courting defeat to allow him to rise as the new PNM leader. And the opposition capitalised on this and Rowley's open war with Manning over corruption.
The People's Partnership campaign was hastily put together but it remained focused on ending crime and corruption and offering hope for good governance with a people centred policy.
The PNM suffered from the baggage of their "most villified" leader who tried to raise race and the fragility of a coalition as good reasons to give him a fresh mandate.
It also suffered from Manning's refusal to admit that crime is the major national issue and his attempts to sweep away all allegations of corruption.
In his final pitch to voters, Manning appeared confident and asked for continuity, which could mean keeping the status quo with all the ills that caused a government with a strong majority to collapse in just over two years.
For her part, Persad-Bissessar asked for an opportunity to allow an experienced and dedicated team to take charge of the nation's affairs, pledging to introduce a government of the people with the right of the people to recall their representatives.
The choice for voters Monday is clear.
If old loyalties take precedence over nation Manning could be back. On the other hand if Trinidad and Tobago wants a fresh start, voters would choose the People's Partneship and for the first time a woman would hold the country's highest political office.
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