Democratic Labour Party (Barbados)

Democratic Labour Party
Leader Verla De Peiza
Founded 1955
Split from Barbados Labour Party
Ideology Social democracy
Democratic socialism
Republicanism
Political position Centre-left
House of Assembly
0 / 30
Senate
11 / 21
Website
www.dlpbarbados.org

The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is a political party which was established in 1955 in Barbados. It was the ruling party of Barbados from 15 January 2008 to 24 May 2018, but faced an electoral wipeout in the 2018 general election which left it with no MPs.

History

The DLP was founded in 1955 by Errol Barrow, James Cameron Tudor, Frederick "Sleepy" Smith and 26 others.[1][2] Once members of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), these 29 broke away to form this more left-leaning alternative. However, as a result of this common origin, the two parties have been and remain ideologically similar. In the 1956 general elections the party received 19.9% of the vote and won four seats.[3] In the next elections in 1961 it received fewer votes than the BLP, but won a majority of the seats in Parliament, with Barrow becoming Premier.

After the party retained power in the 1966 elections (this time with a plurality of the vote),[4] Barrow became the country's first Prime Minister. The party won a third successive election in 1971, but lost power to the BLP in 1976.[5] They remained in opposition until victory in the 1986 elections, in which they won 24 of the 27 seats.[5] They remained in power following the 1991 elections, but were defeated by the BLP in the 1994 elections. They returned to power again in 2008. DLP leader David Thompson became Prime Minister, and was succeeded by Freundel Stuart after Thompson's death in 2010. Stuart lead the party to a narrow election victory in 2013.

The 2018 election saw the DLP lose all of its MPs. Stuart stepped down as leader and Verla De Peiza was elected unopposed by the party as his successor in the role of DLP president.[6]

Electoral results

Election Votes % Seats +/– Position Government
1966 72,384 49.6
14 / 24
 Steady 0 Steady 1st Majority
1971 53,295 57.4
18 / 24
 Increase 4 Steady 1st Majority
1976 45,786 46.4
7 / 24
 Decrease 11 Decrease 2nd Opposition
1981 55,845 47.1
10 / 27
 Increase 3 Steady 2nd Opposition
1986 80,050 59.4
24 / 27
 Increase 14 Increase 1st Majority
1991 59,900 49.8
18 / 28
 Decrease 6 Steady 1st Majority
1994 47,979 38.8
8 / 28
 Decrease 10 Decrease 2nd Opposition
1999 45,118 35.1
2 / 28
 Decrease 6 Steady 2nd Opposition
2003 54,746 44.2
7 / 30
 Increase 5 Steady 2nd Opposition
2008 70,135 53.2
20 / 30
 Increase 13 Increase 1st Majority
2013 78,851 51.3
16 / 30
 Decrease 4 Steady 1st Majority
2018 33,985 22.6
0 / 30
 Decrease 16 Decrease 2nd Opposition

References

  1. ↑ "The Party". Official Web Site. Democratic Labour Party. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  2. ↑ Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p85 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  3. ↑ Nohlen, pp92-93
  4. ↑ Nohlen, p92
  5. 1 2 Nohlen, p94
  6. ↑ "Verla De Peiza elected as the new leader of Barbados' Main Opposition Party | The Habari Network". The Habari Network. 15 August 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2018.


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