Mr. Winston Peters was reelected to the House of Representatives on May 24, 2010 as the Member for Mayaro and was appointed Minister of the Arts and Culture on May 28.
Mr. Peters was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2000, as the Member for Ortoire/Mayaro. He served as a Minister in the Ministry of Culture in the 6th Parliament. Mr. Peters again contested and won the seat of Ortoire/Mayaro in 2001 as a Member of the 7th Parliament. During the 7th Parliament the House of Representatives failed to elect a Speaker due to an equal number of seats being won by the Government and Oppostion. General Elections were held for a third successive year and in the General Elections of 2002, Mr. Peters was narrowly defeated by Mr. Franklin Khan of the PNM.
With the addition of new constituencies and the redrawing of boundaries, Mr. Peters contested and won the newly created Mayaro constituency in 2007.
Mr. Peters is a businessman and entrepreneur who is perhaps best known as a calypsonian. He possesses the ability to extempo (create rhyming verses on any given topic without rehearsing) with ease, a talent that will no doubt serve him in good stead in his Parliamentary career.
His calypso sobriquet is the Mighty Gypsy.