IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Trinidad and Tobago

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Parliamentary
2015

Trinidad and Tobago
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Region: Americas

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President George Maxwell RICHARDS
Head of Government: Prime Minister Kamla PERSAD-BISSESSAR
Assembly: Trinidad and Tobago has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Senate with 31 seats and the House of Representatives with 41 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The President is indirectly elected by an electoral college to serve a 5-year term.*
The Prime Minister is appointed by the President to serve a 5-year term.**
In the Senate 31 members are appointed to serve 5-year terms*. In the House of Representatives 41 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.

* The President is elected by indirect vote by an electoral college consisting of ten senators, the Speaker, and twelve members of the House of Representatives.

** The president usually appoints the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives

* In the Senate, 16 members are appointed by the ruling party, 9 members are appointed by the president, and 6 members are appointed by the opposition party. All members serve 5-year terms.