Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says al­though the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) won a 26-seat ma­jor­i­ty in the April 28 Gen­er­al Elec­tion, which gives them a three-fifths ma­jor­i­ty in the low­er house, they will not mis­use their au­thor­i­ty.

“We thank the peo­ple of T&T for giv­ing us that ma­jor­i­ty be­cause that’s how the law is. We will need that ma­jor­i­ty from time to time, but I give the as­sur­ance to­day that we will not abuse that pow­er that you have giv­en us,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said yes­ter­day as she ad­dressed the gath­er­ing at the cer­e­mo­ni­al open­ing of 13th Re­pub­li­can Par­lia­ment at the Red House, Port-of-Spain.

Ac­knowl­edg­ing the his­toric mo­ment of three po­lit­i­cal par­ties be­ing rep­re­sent­ed in the Low­er House for the first time in 25 years, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the elec­torate did not vote mere­ly for a new gov­ern­ment but for long-term struc­tur­al change, which her ad­min­is­tra­tion in­tends to de­liv­er with the spe­cial ma­jor­i­ty it now holds.