National Team Unity
Encyclopedia
National Team Unity is a political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

 led by Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 lawyer and former Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj
Ramesh Maharaj
-Early life:Mr. Maharaj had over 30 years experience in the legal profession having been admitted to practice at the English Bar in 1967. He had been in private practice as Senior Partner in the chambers of Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Company. He had also been admitted to practice as an attorney...

.

Originally founded as Team Unity, to contest party elections in the United National Congress
United National Congress
The United National Congress is one of the two major political parties in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and one of the parties in the current ruling coalition. It was founded by Basdeo Panday, a lawyer and former trade unionist. The UNC was formed as the result of a split in the ruling...

 in 2001, the slate of candidates was led by Maharaj. Team Unity won 21 of 24 contested executive posts including the Deputy Leadership (won by Maharaj).

Later that year a rift with UNC leader Basdeo Panday led Maharaj, together with Oropouche Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 Trevor Sudama and Naparima
Naparima
Naparima is a name associated with southern Trinidad. It is derived from the Amerindian Anaparima. Historically "the Naparimas" was used to refer to western south Trinidad...

 MP Ralph Maraj
Ralph Maraj
Ralph Maraj is a Trinidad and Tobago politician, playwright and teacher. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under a People's National Movement administration, Minister of Communication and Information Technology under a United National Congress administration, and was a founding member of...

, to leave the party. This caused the UNC to lose its parliamentary majority, forcing national elections.

Renaming itself National Team Unity, the party contested the 2001 general elections,won 2.5% of the vote but no seats. It did not contest the 2002 general elections, and remains more of a pressure group than a true national political party. In 2004 Ralph Maraj returned to the PNM (which he had left in 1995) as a speechwriter for Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 Patrick Manning
Patrick Manning
Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning was the fourth and sixth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the former Political Leader of the People's National Movement . He served as Prime Minister from 17 December 1991 to 9 November 1995 and held that office again from 24 December 2001 until 26...

.

As of 2006 the NTU appears to be a moribund organization. Its leader Maharaj has rejoined the United National Congress.
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