Trinidad and Tobago general election, 1961
- Trinidad and Tobago general election, 1961
General elections were held in the British colony of Trinidad and Tobago in 1961. They were won by the People's National Movement, whose leader Eric Williams became the country's first Prime Minister (previously the position had been referred to as Chief Minister or Premier).
Prior to the election, the PNM government had introduced the "Representation of the People Bill", designed to modernise the electoral system by instituting permanent registration of voters, identification cards, voting machines and revised electoral boundaries. However, these changes were seen by the Democratic Labour Party as an attempt to disenfranchise illiterate rural voters through intimidation, to rig the elections through the use of voting machines, to allow Afro-Caribbean immigrants from other islands to vote, and to gerrymander the boundaries to ensure victory by the PNM. Opponents of the PNM saw "proof" of these allegations when A. N. R. Robinson was declared winner of the Tobago seat with more votes than there were registered voters. In response to allegations of voting irregularities the DLP boycotted the opening of parliament.
Following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation in 1961, its parliamentary majority meant that the PNM government was able to write the independence constitution without input from the opposition. However, although supported by the Colonial Office, independence was blocked by the DLP, until Williams was able to make a deal with DLP leader Rudranath Capildeo, which expanded the number of opposition Senators. With Capildeo's assent, the country was granted independence on 31 August 1962.
Results
1 The Democratic Labour Party was formed by the merger of the People's Democratic Party, the Trinidad Labour Party and the Party of Political Progress Groups, which won a combined seven seats in the 1956 elections.
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