Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago's constitution took effect in 1976, transforming the country from a constitutional monarchy into a republic in which an indirectly elected President replaced the monarch as head of state, and it lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. It establishes a parliamentary democracy modeled on the United Kingdom system, with the President chosen by an electoral college of Parliament members for five-year terms, a Prime Minister who leads the government while remaining answerable to the House of Representatives, and a bicameral Parliament comprising a 31-member Senate and a House of Representatives that grew from 36 to 41 seats in a 2005 expansion.