People's National Movement

This article is about the People's National Movement nationally. For the Tobagonian branch of the People's National Movement, see Tobago Council of the People's National Movement.
For other uses, see People's Movement (disambiguation) and National Movement (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with People's National Movement (Poland).

People's National Movement
AbbreviationPNM
LeaderKeith Rowley
ChairpersonStuart Young
General SecretaryFoster Cummings
Deputy LeadersColm Imbert (Legislative Matters)
Nyan Gadsby-Dolly (Policy Matters)
Rohan Sinanan (Party and Election Matters)
Ancil Dennis (Tobago Council Political Leader)
Leader in the SenateAmery Browne
Leader in the House of RepresentativesKeith Rowley
(Prime Minister)
FounderEric Williams
Founded24 January 1956; 68 years ago (1956-01-24)
HeadquartersBalisier House
1 Tranquility Street, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
NewspaperMAGNUM
Youth wingPNM National Youth League
Women's wingPNM National Women's League
Membership (2022)Increase 105,894[1][2]
IdeologyLiberalism
Social liberalism[3]
Nationalism[4]
Political positionCentre to centre-left
Regional affiliationWest Indies Federal Labour Party (1957–1962)
Colors  Red
Devolved or semi-autonomous branchesTobago Council of the People's National Movement
Senate
16 / 31
House of Representatives
22 / 41
Tobago House of Assembly
1 / 15
Regional corporations
7 / 14
Regional municipalities
70 / 141
Indirectly elected mayors
5 / 7
Indirectly elected Aldermen
29 / 56
Election symbol

Balisier flower
Website
https://pnmtt.live/
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The People's National Movement (PNM) is the longest-serving and oldest active political party in Trinidad and Tobago. The party has dominated national and local politics for much of Trinidad and Tobago's history, contesting all elections since 1956 serving as the nation's governing party or on four occasions, the main opposition. It is one out of the country's two main political parties.[5][6][7] There have been four PNM Prime Ministers and multiple ministries. The party espouses the principles of liberalism[8][9][10][11][12] and generally sits at the centre[13][14][15] to centre-left[16][17] of the political spectrum.

The party was founded in 1956 by Eric Williams, who took inspiration from Norman Manley's democratic socialist centre-left People's National Party in Jamaica.[18][19] It won the 1956 General Elections and went on to hold power for an unbroken 30 years. After the death of Williams in 1981, George Chambers led the party. The party was defeated in the 1986 General Elections, losing 33–3 to the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). Under the leadership of Patrick Manning, the party returned to power in 1991 following the 1990 attempted coup by the Jamaat al-Muslimeen, but lost power in 1995 to the United National Congress (UNC). The PNM lost again to the UNC in the 2000 General Elections, but a split in the UNC forced new elections in 2001. These elections resulted in an 18–18 tie between the PNM and the UNC, and President Arthur N. R. Robinson appointed Manning as Prime Minister. Manning was unable to elect a Speaker of the House of Representatives, but won an outright majority in new elections held in 2002 and again in 2007, before losing power in 2010. It returned to power in the 2015 general election under Keith Rowley where it had its best result since the 1981 general election, winning 51.7 percent of the popular vote and 23 of the 41 seats. In the 2020 general election, they won the popular vote and a majority in the House of Representatives, winning 22 seats.

The party symbol is the balisier flower (Heliconia bihai) and the Party's political headquarters is known as the "Balisier House" located in Port of Spain. Historically, the PNM has been supported by a majority of Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians and the Creole-Mulatto population,[20][21] thus it is colloquially called the Black Party, the African Party, or the Creole Party.[22][23][24][25] The PNM has its strongest support in cities and urban areas.[26] It was also historically supported by different minorities such as the Chinese, Christian Indians (other than Presbyterian Indians), and Muslims of any ethnicity of the country.[27][28][20][21]

The PNM's signature policies and legislative decisions include independence, writing the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, republicanism, the establishment of the Tobago House of Assembly, the Public Transport Service Corporation, the Water Taxi Service, universal preschool, primary and secondary education, universal health care, criminalizing child marriage and decriminalizing cannabis.[29][30][31][32] In government since the 2015 general election, the party holds an overall majority of 22 out of 41 Members of Parliament in the House of Representatives and 16 out of 31 members of the Senate. The party has 72 out of the 139 local councillors and is in control of seven of the 14 regional corporations since the 2019 Trinidadian local elections. The party also has one out of 12 assembly members in the Tobago House of Assembly since the December 2021 Tobago House of Assembly elections.

Despite not being a socialist party, the PNM was a member of the democratic socialist West Indies Federal Labour Party in the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation from 1957 to 1962. The party includes a semi-autonomous Tobagonian branch known as the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement. As of September 2018, the PNM has 100,000+ registered members.[33][34]

  1. ^ Alexander, Gail. "Slightly better Sunday turnout for PNM election". Trinidad & Tobago Guardian.
  2. ^ Clyne, Kalifa Sarah (1 October 2018). "Red and Rowley takes early lead in PNM elections - Trinidad and Tobago Newsday". newsday.co.tt. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Caribbean Elections | People's National Movement". www.caribbeanelections.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  4. ^ Encyclopedia of World Political Systems. Routledge. 2016. ISBN 978-1-317-47156-1. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  5. ^ Wagg, Stephen (14 November 2017). Cricket: A Political History of the Global Game, 1945-2017: 1945 to 2012. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-55729-6. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  6. ^ "BTI 2020 Trinidad and Tobago Country Report". BTI Blog. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
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  8. ^ Lowenthal, David; Comitas, Lambros, eds. (1973). The Aftermath of Sovereignty: West Indian Perspectives (PDF). Anchor Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-0385043045. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  9. ^ Griffith, Ivelaw L. (1993). The quest for security in the Caribbean : problems and promises in subordinate states. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-1-56324-089-8. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  10. ^ "Caribbean Elections | People's National Movement". www.caribbeanelections.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  11. ^ Lowenthal, David; Comitas, Lambros, eds. (1973). The Aftermath of Sovereignty: West Indian Perspectives (PDF). Anchor Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-0385043045. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  12. ^ Griffith, Ivelaw L. (1993). The quest for security in the Caribbean : problems and promises in subordinate states. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-1-56324-089-8. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  13. ^ Encyclopedia of world political systems. Sharpe Reference. 15 April 2016. ISBN 978-1-317-47156-1. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  14. ^ Derbyshire, J. Denis; Derbyshire, Ian (2016). Encyclopedia of World Political Systems. Routledge. p. 322. ISBN 9781317471561. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  15. ^ Encyclopedia of world political systems. Sharpe Reference. 15 April 2016. ISBN 978-1-317-47156-1. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
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  17. ^ Trevett, Claire (4 August 2017). "Labour leader Jacinda Ardern not the only one wanting to 'do this'". NZ Herald. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
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  19. ^ Hall, Kenneth (1 October 2012). Caribbean Integration from Crisis to Transformation and Repositioning. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4669-4404-6. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  20. ^ a b Gowricharn, Ruben (17 September 2020). Political Integration in Indian Diaspora Societies. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-18041-1.
  21. ^ a b Roopnarine, Urvashi Tiwari. "Politics and religion in San Fernando West". www.guardian.co.tt. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  22. ^ Ramcharitar, Raymond (2021). A History of Creole Trinidad, 1956-2010. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-75634-5. ISBN 978-3-030-75633-8. S2CID 250255721.
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