Last week, I looked at the constitutional history associated with the creation of the Office of Leader of the Opposition in 1962 and its reform in 1976. Over the period of time, there have been a variety of opposition wars that have been fought.
In the immediate post-independence period, there were difficulties in the ranks of the Opposition that were largely caused by the absentee approach to the job of leader of the Opposition that was adopted by Dr Rudrunath Capildeo, the leader of the DLP. This absentee status came about as a result of his acceptance of a teaching position at the University of London and it was facilitated locally by the generous grant of leave of absence from the House of Representatives by the Speaker.
By 1963 there was trouble in the DLP camp when Capildeo attempted to retain leadership of the DLP from overseas, while facilitating the appointment of Stephen Carpoondeo Maharaj as leader of the Opposition. This dichotomy led to a split in the DLP which opened the door for the creation of the Liberal Party in 1964. There were now two opposition parties in the Parliament against the PNM. By 1965 there was further fracturing within the ranks of the parliamentary opposition and the Workers and Farmers Party was born.
In the 1966 general election the PNM were opposed by the DLP, the Liberal Party and the Workers and Farmers Party together with other parties that had been formed.
Between Dr Capildeo’s absence and the political infighting inside the DLP that led to new parties, the PNM were very well poised to win the 1966 general election, and they did.
After the November 1966 general election the DLP membership in the Opposition was depleted from 12 to 11 with Capildeo’s departure once again to go overseas. This time he was working on a book that he published in May 1968, titled Vector Algebra and Mechanics.
This period of absence was not treated as generously as his period of absence in the 1961-66 Parliament by Speaker Arnold Thomasos. By December 1967, his Chaguanas seat was declared vacant and a by-election was held in January 1968. The DLP boycotted the by-election in protest over the continued use of voting machines and this helped the return of Bhadase Maraj as an independent. Vernon Jamadar became leader of the Opposition in July 1967 and stayed in that office until the 1971 general election which he did not contest as part of the ACDC-DLP no-vote campaign. He never returned to Parliament after that.
In the 1971-1976 Parliament, there was no opposition to start with as a result of the PNM winning all of the seats in the 1971 general election. Roy Richardson became leader of the Opposition in 1972 following his departure from the PNM administration.
Richardson remained opposition leader until 1976 when the Constitution was changed to have a new format for appointing a leader of the Opposition. The new party led by Basdeo Panday called the United Labour Front (ULF) formed the Opposition after the September 1976 general election. By August 1977 there was a split in the ULF and Raffique Shah had replaced Panday as opposition leader. However, by March 1978 Shah resigned after Winston Nanan reversed his support for Shah and returned to Panday who became opposition leader once more.
In 1986 the NAR administration came into office with Panday and ANR Robinson. The NAR became fractured and by 1990, a new party (the UNC) led by Panday joined the PNM in opposition and removed Patrick Manning as leader of the Opposition. Manning became Prime Minister in 1991.
In 1995 the PNM went into opposition and Manning survived an attempt by Keith Rowley to unseat him as leader in 1996. After the 18-18 tied election in 2001, President Robinson revoked Panday’s appointment as Prime Minister and replaced him with Manning. He also appointed Panday as leader of the Opposition which he refused.
By 2005 Panday made a deal with Winston Dookeran to give leadership of the UNC to him, while Panday ran for party chairman. After the internal elections were over, Panday refused to hand over the position of leader of the Opposition arguing that the two positions were separate offices. By 2006 the COP was formed by Dookeran and the opposition benches were split again.
A UNC internal election was held in January 2010 that ushered in Kamla Persad-Bissessar as leader, while Panday remained as opposition leader until enough opposition MPs withdrew their support from Panday as leader of the Opposition and transferred it to Persad-Bissessar in February 2010. That decision by the MPs in question united the posts of party leader and opposition leader.
After May 2010 the PNM formed the Opposition once more, but they remained united for the entire term under Keith Rowley. They returned to government last September.
The history of parties, other than the PNM, in opposition has been one of fractures, fissions and new formations after opposition wars.
How will the UNC fare after their current internal elections are over? United or divided?