House to get five new seats

The House of Representatives agreed to expand its total membership to some 41 Members of Parliament. The House sat until 2 am on Wednesday night to pass the Elections and Boundaries Commission Order 2005, which creates five new electoral constituencies in Trinidad. Tobago retains its two constituencies. The number of constituencies in Trinidad will now increase from the current 34 to 39, which, with the two seats in Tobago, will mean that the number of seats in the elected House will rise from 36 to 41 seats. The increase was recommended to the House by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), which is mandated by Section 72 of the National Constitution to review the number of boundaries of the constituencies into which the country is divided.

Although the order is formally laid in both Houses of Parliament, it is not debated on by the unelected Senate. The order now goes to President George Maxwell Richards for approval, under Section 72 (6) of the Constitution.

The order was originally piloted in the House in the name of Prime Minister Patrick Manning. Wednesday saw contributions by Minister of Housing, Dr Keith Rowley; Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Moonilal; Chaguanas MP Manohar Ramsaran; Caroni East MP Ganga Singh, and Ortoire/Mayaro MP Franklin Khan who wrapped up.

If the 2007 election follows the pattern of the 2002 election, then of the five new seats, three would likely go to the UNC and two to the PNM.

Projections are that the PNM would win a new seat when the two Arouca seats are carved up into three constituencies, and a new seat when the eastern half of Caroni East is cut off to create La Horquetta/Talparo. Analysis suggests that the UNC will win a new seat when a slice of Chaguanas is shaved off to form the new Chaguanas East, a new seat when Oropouche is split into two seats, and a new seat when a chunk of two-thirds of Ortoire/Mayaro running along the South Coast creates the new Princes Town South/Tableland seat.