Trinidad and Tobago general election, 1966
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General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago in 1966, the first after independence from the United Kingdom. The result was a victory for the ruling party, the People's National Movement, whose leader, Eric Williams, was reappointed Prime Minister.
However, the election results were overshadowed by the issue of problematic voting machines. Some candidates won their seats with more votes than there were registered voters, and it was claimed that this was because the voting machines that were used registered two votes for the incumbent PNM candidates, per pull, and one for the opposing candidate per pull. In PNM strongholds, 50% of the population voting resulted in 100% turnout, plus the opposing votes, added to together result of 134% voting in these areas. The re-use of the same voting machines led to most opposition parties boycotting the next general election in 1971.
[edit] Results
| Party | % of votes | Seats | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|
| People's National Movement | 52.4% | 24 | +4 |
| Democratic Labour Party | 34.0% | 12 | +2 |
| Liberal Party | 8.9% | 0 | 0 |
| Workers and Farmers Party | 3.5% | 0 | 0 |
| People's Democratic Party | 0.3% | 0 | 0 |
| Butler Party | 0.2% | 0 | 0 |
| Seukeran Independent Party | 0.2% | 0 | 0 |
| Independents | 0.5% | 0 | -4 |
| Rejected | 0.1% | - | |
| Total | 100% | 36 | +2 |
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