The Democratic Labour Party (DLP),

colloquially Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...

known as the "Dems", is a political party in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, established in 1955. It was the ruling party from 15 January 2008 to 24 May 2018 but faced an electoral wipeout in the 2018 general election which left it with no MPs. In common with Barbados' other major party, the

Barbados Labour Party The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), colloquially known as the "Bees", is a social democratic political party in Barbados established in 1938. Led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, it is the governing party of Barbados and the sole ruling party ...

, the DLP has been broadly described as

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

party, with local politics being largely personality-driven and responsive to contemporary issues and the state of the economy. Historically, the BLP claims a heritage from British liberalism, while the DLP was founded 11 years afterwards as a more left-leaning breakaway group.

History

The DLP was founded in 1955 by

Errol Barrow Errol Walton Barrow (21 January 1920 – 1 June 1987) was a Barbadian statesman and the first prime minister of Barbados. Born into a family of political and civic activists in the parish of Saint Lucy, he became a WWII aviator, combat ve ...

James Cameron Tudor Sir James Cameron Tudor, KCMG (18 October 1919 – 9 July 1995) was a Barbadian politician and diplomat, who was a founding member of the country's Democratic Labour Party in 1955. He served on the first Provisional General Council and as the f ...

, Frederick "Sleepy" Smith and 26 others.Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p85 Once members of the

(BLP), these 29 broke away to form this more left-leaning alternative. However, as a result of their common origin, the two parties have been and remain ideologically similar. In the 1956 general election the DLP received 19.9% of the vote and won four seats. In the following election 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 election (this time with a plurality of the vote),Nohlen, p92 Barrow became the country's first Prime Minister. The party won a third successive election in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, but lost power to the BLP in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

.Nohlen, p94 It remained in opposition until victory in the 1986 election, in which it won 24 of the 27 seats. The DLP remained in power following the 1991 election, but was defeated by the BLP in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. It returned to power again in the 2008 election, when DLP leader David Thompson became Prime Minister. Following his death in 2010,

Freundel Stuart Freundel Jerome Stuart, OR, PC, SC (born 27 April 1951) is a Barbadian politician who served as seventh Prime Minister of Barbados and the leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013; and from 21 Febr ...

succeeded to the office, and led the party to a narrow election victory in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. The 2018 election saw the DLP lose all of its MPs. Stuart stepped down as leader, and

Verla De Peiza Verla A. De Peiza (born 7 October 1971) is a Barbadian politician and lawyer. She was the leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) from 12 August 2018 to 21 January 2022, and was the first woman to hold this position. She also previously ...

, unopposed in a leadership election held by the party on 1 August 2018, became his successor in the role of DLP leader and president. After losing the 2022 election which resulted in the DLP not regaining any seats in the House of Assembly, De Peiza resigned on 21 January 2022.

Ronnie Yearwood Ronnie may refer to: *Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...

was then later elected DLP president after DLP elections took place on 1 May 2022.

Electoral history

House of Assembly elections

West Indies election

References

External links

* Labour parties Political parties established in 1955 Political parties in Barbados Social democratic parties in North America Republicanism in Barbados 1955 establishments in Barbados {{Barbados-stub