[1] However, this was not achieved successfully, and the party was labelled communist by opponents, alienating key potential voters.
[1] Despite this setback, the party received 27.2% of the vote in the 1976 elections, winning ten of the 36 seats and becoming the main opposition to the People's National Movement.
[1] Having started with a collective leadership, the party eventually coalesced around Basdeo Panday.
In the 1981 elections the party joined with the Democratic Action Congress and the Tapia House Movement to form the Trinidad and Tobago National Alliance.
[2] However, its vote share fell to 15.2%, falling behind the Organisation for National Reconstruction, and losing two of its ten seats (the DAC won two and the Tapia House Movement none).