Weekly Report - 15 April 2010 (WR-10-15)

The Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, Patrick Manning, dissolved parliament at midnight on 9 April to stage general elections, two years before they are constitutionally due. Manning had two ulterior motives, one of them pressing. The very next day parliament was scheduled to begin debating a motion of no-confidence tabled by the main opposition United National Congress (UNC). Manning was also keen to act before the UNC, galvanised under its new leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was able to stitch up an alliance with the Congress of the People (COP), which formed out of UNC dissidents in 2006, and pose a much more serious threat to his continuation in power. Elections must now be held before 10 July but no sooner than mid May.

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