Congress of the People (Trinidad and Tobago)
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The Congress of the People (COP) is a political party in Trinidad and Tobago. It is led by Winston Dookeran [1]. Its symbol is the "Circle of Circles".
The party was announced in 10th September 2006 when Dookeran, then the embattled Political Leader of the United National Congress announced at a rally that he was leaving the UNC and forming a new party [2]. Dookeran and his supporters had been engaged in internal party feuding with the UNC executive which was loyal to party founder (then Chairman and former Leader) Basdeo Panday.
Dookeran was soon joined by UNC MPs Ganga Singh (who became the Party Whip) and Manohar Ramsaran. Two Independent MPs who had previously left the UNC (Gillian Lucky and Gerald Yetming) also joined the new party.
Former UNC Senators Robin Montano, Roy Augustus, Carol Seepersad Bachan and Sadiq Baksh also joined. Additionally the entire Constituency Executives for Chaguanas and San Fernando West also quit the UNC.
On 10 December 2006, the COP held its inaugural conference at its Operations Centre in Chaguanas.
In the parliamentary elections held on 5 November 2007, the party won 22.64% of the vote (148,041 votes), but none of the 41 seats. [3]
