AS voters head to the polls in the April 28 general election, there will be a wide range of options to consider as 17 political parties and 161 candidates will contest the 41 constituencies across the country.
Among this year's contenders is the Trinidad Humanity Campaign (THC), which will be participating in its fourth general election.
Newsday spoke to the political leader, Marcus Ramkissoon, by telephone on April 16, who urged the public to consider having independent representation in the parliament.
"You have a government administration with its members and a number of opposition members, which we are accustomed to.
"But what if there were two, three, or four independent members that could sway the tide of a legislative document in the parliament?"
Ramkisoon said political "badmind" has hindered legislature from going forward in the past, hence the importance of having independent opposition within the parliament.
Ramkissoon formed the THC in 2010 after being a volunteer radio talk show host in 2009.
"The programme was a three-hour one that dealt with problems and solutions in the country. I realised the problems people were raising were issues that were prevalent ten -15 years prior to that.
"A lot of citizens had very innovative and simple solutions, which one would think, when applied, would work."
Ramkissoon said it made him wonder why those elected to run the country would not apply these solutions.
"Was it that they are not aware of such solutions? Or were they simply ignoring them?"
He said the party was formed to offer a different choice to the electorate.
"We realised there was a massive gap of people who were registered to vote but did not, for whatever reason.
"One of those reasons we found was due to the unavailability of credible choices at that time in the country's political scene."
Since its formation, the THC has contested the 2010, 2015 and 2020 general elections and the 2023 local government election.
Ramkissoon noted the THC was the fourth-largest party among the 19 that contested the 2020 general election.
That year, the party fielded seven candidates and secured a total of 366 votes. Of those, 106 were cast for Linnell Doolan in the Couva South constituency.
"We're neither new or small. We have had our manifesto in each of the years go out on our social media pages."
He said the party's manifesto has been out since the beginning of April.
"It's not much different from our previous three manifestoes because a lot of the issues have not changed."
The 47-page document highlights ten topics, with strong emphasis on crime, security, and justice; education; health; economy; and agriculture and food security.
This year, the party will be fielding three candidates.
Ramkissoon will be contesting the Aranguez/St Joseph seat while Leshawn Gopee and Christopher Mathura will battle for the crucial Tunapuna and St Augustine seats respectively.
THC's body of work
Asked what the THC has done in the last five years, Ramkissoon said the party ha
