SCARBOROUGH, Tobago (CMC) — The ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) retained control of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) winning 10 of the 12 seats in Monday’s elections.

According to the preliminary results, the newly formed Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) led by the president of the Public Service Association (PSA), Watson Duke, won the other two seats.

Kelvin Charles acknowledging the cheers as he led the PNM to victory in THA poll.

Prime Minister and PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley said he was pleased with the outcome of the results, telling supporters, it was “a “handsome victory by any standard.

“We are extremely happy,” Rowley said of the victory given that the PNM had controlled all 12 seats in the last THA.

He said the victory, which provides the PNM with a fifth consecutive hold on the THA “should say a lot of the PNM’s success in Tobago and is something to be very proud of”.

“Anybody would know that the longer you are in office, the harder it is to win,” he said.

The PNM entered the election under a new leader in Kelvin Charles, who replaced outgoing THA Chief secretary Orville London.  Charles won 1,050 votes to take the Black Rock/Whim/ Spring Garden seat, by a clear-cut margin.

Apart from Duke, who had been an unsuccessful independent candidate in the 2015 general elections in Trinidad and Tobago, the other successful PDP candidate is school teacher Farley Chavez Augustine, contesting an election for the first time.

Augustine received 954 votes while the PNM’s Marissa Williams and Tobago Forwards candidate Sparkle Taylor each received 753 votes.

Duke secured 1,261 votes, dethroning the PNM’s Gary Melville who got 949 votes.

The Tobago Forwards, led by former justice minister Christlyn Moore failed to win a seat in the election, while the Movement For Transformation’s (MFT), led by a former PNM government minister, Eudine Job-Davis, did not make any significant impact on the outcome of the polls.

Charles is expected to be sworn in as the new THA Chief Secretary on Thursday.