The United National Congress (UNC or internationally UNCTT) is one of two major political parties in Trinidad and Tobago. The UNC is a centre-left party. It was founded in 1989 by Basdeo Panday, a Trinidadian lawyer, economist, trade unionist, and actor after a split in the ruling National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). After spending six years in opposition, the UNC won control of the government in 1995, initially in coalition with the NAR and later on its own. In the 2000 general election, the UNC won an absolute majority in the Parliament. In 2001, a split in the party caused the UNC to lose its parliamentary majority and control of the government. From 2001 to 2010, the UNC was once again Parliamentary Opposition party. In May 2010, the UNC returned to government as the majority party in the People's Partnership. The UNC's Political Leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Kamla Persad-Bissessar was Prime Minister from 2010 until 2015 and then again from 2025 to present after they won that year's general elections.
The party symbol is the sun rising above the Trinity Hills. Historically, the UNC has been supported by a majority of Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians, especially Hindu Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians, thus it is colloquially called the Indian Party or the Hindu Party. The Spiritual Baptist and other racial and religious minorities of the country also support the party.
In power since the 2025 general election, the party holds 26 out of 41 Members of Parliament in the House of Representatives and 16 out of 31 members of the Senate, as mandated by the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago to the largest party in the lower house. The party has 70 out of the 141 local Councillors and is in control of 7 of the 14 regional corporations since the 2023 Trinidadian local elections. The party has no representation in the Tobago House of Assembly.
As of December 2020, the UNC has 120,000+ registered members.
Contents
History
Opposition party (1989–1995)
The party was founded on 30 April 1989 following a split in the ruling NAR. Six members of parliament, all of whom were former members of the United Labour Front, left the NAR to form the Caucus for Love, Unity and Brotherhood 1988 (CLUB '88) which was chaired by Rampersad Parasram. CLUB '88 evolved into the UNC with Panday as leader and Parasram as its first chairman.
The UNC won 13 seats in the 1991 general election and became the official opposition. It won a 14th seat in a by-election and gained another in 1995 when Ralph Maraj defected from the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) party. In 1995, the UNC lost one seat when Hulsie Bhaggan, member of parliament for Chaguanas, left the party to form the Movement for Unity and Progress (MUP).
Governing party (1995–2001)
In the 1995 general election, the UNC won 17 of 36 seats and formed a coalition government with the NAR which won 2 seats. In exchange for his support, NAR Political Leader A. N. R. Robinson was first appointed Minister Extraordinaire and then elected President in 1997. Two PNM MPs defected and supported the UNC as independent members. This gave the UNC an absolute majority and caused relations with the NAR to deteriorate.
In the 2000 general election, the UNC won 19 seats and formed a majority government. However, internal party elections in 2001 exposed a rift in the party between Panday and Attorney-General Ramesh Maharaj, who fielded rival slates. Maharaj's slate termed itself 'Team Unity'. Though Panday was not challenged as Political Leader, Maharaj's slate won 21 of the 24 executive posts, and Maharaj himself was elected Deputy Leader.
Panday refused to recommend Maharaj as Acting Prime Minister in his absence. Maharaj countered by initiating investigations into charges of corruption by Panday and his supporters. Panday then reduced the ministerial portfolios of Maharaj and his supporters. This led to the defection of Maharaj; two of his supporters, Agriculture Minister Trevor Sudama and Information Technology Minister Ralph Maraj, formed a new political party: Team Unity. Early elections were called in 2001, in which the UNC was reduced to 18 seats in the House of Representatives. The opposition PNM, which also won 18 seats, was called upon to form the government.
Return to opposition (2001–2010)
During the 2002 general elections, the UNC won 46.5% of the popular vote and 16 out of 36 seats in the House of Representatives. It became the opposition party to the ruling PNM government, which held the other 20 seats.
In April 2005, the UNC was further weakened when Pointe-à-Pierre MP Gillian Lucky and San Juan MP Fuad Khan declared themselves to be "independent UNC members" and relocated to the Opposition backbenches. On 31 May 2005, Panday, his wife Oma, former UNC MP Carlos John, and party financier Ishwar Galbaransingh were arrested for bribery. Panday refused bail and remained in prison for eight days.
On 2 September 2005, Panday announced that he would be willing to hand over party leadership to Winston Dookeran, MP for St. Augustine, if Panday could remain party chairman. As a result of negotiations between the two, Dookeran was nominated unopposed for the post of Political Leader and Panday was nominated unopposed for the party Chairmanship. However, both fielded rival slates for the remaining 16 executive posts.
On 2 October, Panday's slate won 12 of the posts including two of the three deputy leader positions and, after a recount, the vice-chairmanship. Dookeran's slate won the 4 remaining posts. Members of Dookeran's slate called for Panday's resignation as Leader of the Opposition. Gerald Yetming, MP for St. Joseph, joined the Opposition backbenches in protest of Panday's refusal to relinquish his position.
In February 2006, Panday announced that he had reconciled with Maharaj, who marked his return to the party by speaking at a party rally held at Mid-Centre Mall in Chaguanas on 19 February. At that rally, Dookeran criticized his party for accepting Maharaj's return and was booed by the crowd.
On 8 March 2006, Yetming announced he was formally leaving the UNC and would serve out his term as an independent. His chief reason was the return of Maharaj to the UNC, a move which he opposed.
As internal wranglings continued in the party, it appeared that a rift between Dookeran and the Executive was deepening. Newspaper accounts indicated that pro-Panday executives and Dookeran were largely functioning independently of each other. Dookeran also suffered a loss of support as Deputy Leader Jack Warner and Roodal Moonilal, MP for Oropouche, announced their support of Panday.
Return to government (2010–2015)
Based on a campaign of change against the PNM, the UNC was successful in the 2010 general election, and Persad-Bissessar was appointed as the first-ever female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. The UNC won a majority of 21 seats. Their coalition controlled 29 seats in total; the Congress of the People won 6 seats and the Tobago Organization of the People won Tobago's only 2 seats.
After the election, the coalition showed signs of weakening. The Movement for Social Justice, which did not win any seats in the election, left the coalition due to discontent with the running of the government. The Tobago Organization of the People failed to win a single seat in the 2013 Tobago House of Assembly elections.
During 2013, the UNC lost 2 seats in by-elections in St. Joseph and Chaguanas West.
Second return to opposition (2015–2025)
In the 2015 general elections, the party won 18 of the 41 seats in the elections to form the main Opposition party in the 11th parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. Persad-Bissessar was appointed Leader of the Opposition by President Anthony Carmona on 21 September 2015.
An internal party election was held on 5 December 2015, which Kamla Persad-Bissessar won as political leader of the party against Roodal Moonilal and Vasant Bharath. Controversy arose when ballots in favor of Roodal Moonilal were found near a river and at the back of a school used as a polling station. The ballots were left out in the open with no visible attempts to destroy or hide them. Some names were found twice on the voting list, which may have allowed one individual to vote twice. Moonilal filed a complaint for these issues to be rectified, however Kamla Persad-Bissessar was declared the winner. 2015 also saw the introduction to the National Executive of young members such as Bheemal Ramlogan, Wilfred Nicholas Morris, Ravi Ratiram and Brian Baig. https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/unc-final-internal-election-results/article_17ef781d-ebf3-51a0-b474-9987989221c6.html
In the 2016 local election, the party won 54 of the 137 seats in the elections and held the majority in 6 of the 14 local councils. According to the election authorities, three of the UNC's candidates were found ineligible or withdrew themselves before polling day, resulting in a walkover victory for the PNM in one district.
In the 2017 internal elections Kamla Persad-Bissessar won virtually all of the votes to continue as political leader of the party against Chanda Bhaggan and Christine Newallo-Hosein. The voter turnout was the lowest recorded in an internal election for the UNC at the time.
The 2020 general elections took place on 10 August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The UNC's campaign was based on the incumbent PNM government's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, not doing more to control the Venezuelan refugee crisis and having a failing economy. However, Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad-Bissessar faced backlash due to her statements on her opponent Prime Minister Keith Rowley as a "blank man on the other side", which many interpreted her as saying the "black man", however it was noted that later in her speech's transcript she referenced the "blank man" numerous times. The party also faced questions of corruption amid a police investigation that involved members of the UNC. The UNC won 19 of the 41 constituencies, giving them two more seat than previously held. The results in six constituencies were subject to recounts, causing the final election results to be delayed by a week. This was the first parliamentary election in Trinidad and Tobago where the result was not finalized the day after the election. However, after the recount the UNC did not gain any constituencies, and remained the opposition in the parliament.
Second return to government (2025-Present)
The UNC contested the 2025 Trinidad and Tobago general election as part of the "coalition of interests" with the Progressive Empowerment Party and the Laventille Outreach for Vertical Enrichment movement. In the election the UNC won a majority of seats and returned to government.
List of political leaders
The political leaders of the United National Congress have been as follows (any acting leaders indicated in italics):
Key:
UNC PNM NAR
Election results
Youth Arm
The new executive members of the UNC Youth Arm are as follows:
Women's Arm
The executive members of the UNC Women's Arm are: