The Democratic Labour Party (DLP), colloquially 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 estima ...

, 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 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 ...

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

, but lost power to the BLP in 1976.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 sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

. It returned to power again in the

2008 election This electoral calendar 2008 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2008 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, even though they are not elections. By-elections are ...

, when DLP leader David Thompson became Prime Minister. Following his death in 2010, Freundel Stuart 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 fa ...

. 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