The Dominica Labour Party is a

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 ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

History

Founded in 1955 by

Phyllis Shand Allfrey Phyllis Byam Shand Allfrey (24 October 1908 – 4 February 1986) was a West Indian writer, socialist activist, newspaper editor and politician of the island of Dominica in the Caribbean. She is best known for her first novel, '' The Orchid Hou ...

and

Emmanuel Christopher Loblack Emmanuel Christopher Loblack O.B.E. (August 29, 1898- June 3, 1995) was a Dominican trade unionist and politician. Trade union Loblack was raised in the community of Grand Bay, Dominica. He was a mason and builder by trade; he was employed by the ...

, the Dominica Labour Party is the oldest political party in Dominica. Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p225 It first contested general elections in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, winning seven of the eleven seats. In the next elections in 1966 it won all but one of the seats. It retained power in the 1970 elections, although it was reduced to eight seats. A fourth consecutive victory was achieved in the

1975 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1975. Africa * 1975 Cameroonian presidential election * 1975 Cape Verdean parliamentary election * 1975 Ivorian general election * 1975 Liberian general election * 1975 São Tomé and Príncipe legislat ...

when it won 16 of the 21 seats. In

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

the party suffered a major defeat, seeing its vote share reduced from 50% to 17%, and losing all its seats as the

Dominica Freedom Party The Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) is a conservative political party in Dominica. It shares much of the same socially and economically conservative principles as the Conservative Party in the UK. The party has been led by Bernard Hurtault since 2 ...

won the elections. It regained five seats in the 1985 elections, losing one in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and gaining one in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. In the

2000 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2000. Africa * 2000 Ethiopian general election * 2000 Ghanaian presidential election * 1999–2000 Guinea-Bissau general election * 2000–01 Ivorian parliamentary election * 2000 Ivorian presiden ...

, the party regained power for the first time since 1975, winning 10 of the 21 seats and forming a coalition with the DFP, after which Roosevelt "Rosie" Douglas became Prime Minister. However, on 1 October, 2000 Douglas died suddenly after only a few months in office and was replaced by Pierre Charles. On 6 January, 2004, Charles, who had been suffering from heart problems since 2003, also died. After the death of Pierre Charles, Foreign Minister Osborne Riviere acted as Prime Minister, until Education Minister

Roosevelt Skerrit Roosevelt Skerrit (born 8 June 1972) is a Dominican politician who has been Prime Minister of Dominica since 2004; he has also been the Member of Parliament for the Vieille Case constituency since 2000. Regionally, he has served as the chairman ...

was named political leader of the party and sworn in as Prime Minister. Under the leadership of Roosevelt Skerrit, the party won 12 seats in the 2005 elections and remained in office. In the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

general elections the Dominica Labour Party scored a third consecutive victory winning 18 of the 21 seats, despite the opposition's claims of campaign improprieties.

Electoral history

House of Assembly elections

References

External links

Official party website

Political Parties of the Americas, 1980s to 1990s
{{Authority control Labour parties Former member parties of the Socialist International Political parties in Dominica Political parties established in 1957