Democratic Labour Party (Barbados)
| Democratic Labour Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Freundel Stuart |
| Founded | 1955 |
| Current seats |
16 / 30
|
| Most seats | 24 (1986) |
| Fewest seats | 2 (1999) |
| Website | |
| www.dlpbarbados.org | |
The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is a political party in Barbados, and currently the ruling party of the country. It is led by Freundel Stuart.
History [edit]
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.
References [edit]
- ^ "The Party". Official Web Site. Democratic Labour Party. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
- ^ Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p85 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
- ^ Nohlen, pp92-93
- ^ Nohlen, p92
- ^ a b Nohlen, p94
External links [edit]
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