The Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) is a

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 ...

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

History

The party was founded by

Eric Gairy Sir Eric Matthew Gairy PC (18 February 192223 August 1997) was the first Prime Minister of Grenada, serving from his country's independence in 1974 until his overthrow in a coup by Maurice Bishop in 1979. Gairy also served as head of governme ...

in 1950. It contested the first elections held under universal suffrage in 1951, and won six of the eight seats. Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p311 The 1954 elections saw the same outcome. In the 1957 elections it lost four seats, whilst two other parties, the

Grenada National Party The Grenada National Party (GNP) was a conservative and economically liberal political party in Grenada that existed from 1955 to 1984, when it merged into the New National Party. It alternated in power with the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP ...

and the

People's Democratic Movement The People's Democratic Movement is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded by Paias Wingti in 1985, after his faction left the Pangu Party. Wingti served as prime minister from 1985 to 1988 and from 1992 to 1994. He was later repla ...

also won two seats, with the GNP's leader

Herbert Blaize Herbert Augustus Blaize PC (26 February 1918 – 19 December 1989) was a Grenadian politician and leader of the Grenada National Party. When Grenada was still a British Crown Colony he served as the first Chief Minister from 1960 to 1961, ...

becoming leader of the island. The party regained power after winning eight of the ten seats in the 1961 elections. It lost the 1962 elections to the GNP, before returning to power in the 1967 elections. The party remained in power following the 1972 elections, but Gairy's government became increasingly authoritarian, with his secret police (the

Mongoose Gang The Mongoose Gang was a private army or militia which operated from 1967 to 1979 under the control of Sir Eric Gairy, the Premier and later Prime Minister of Grenada, and head of the Grenada United Labour Party. Officially, Mongoose Gang members wer ...

) threatening the opposition. Following the

1976 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1976. Africa * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1976 Malawian general election * 1976 Mauritanian presidential election * 1976 Tiris El Gharbiya parliamentary by-election (Mauritan ...

, which were branded fraudulent by international observers, Gairy was overthrown in a coup in 1979. After democracy was restored, GULP won only a single seat in the 1984 elections and has since remained in opposition. It formed an alliance with United Labour for the

1999 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1999. * 1999 electoral calendar Africa * 1999 Algerian presidential election * 1999 Botswana general election * 1999 Beninese parliamentary election * 1999 Central African Republic presidential elect ...

, in which it lost parliamentary representation for the first time since 1951. However, it regained a seat when

Michael Baptiste Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

of the ruling New National Party defected to GULP in June 2000.''Political Parties of the World'' (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 265.

Gloria Payne Banfield Gloria Payne Banfield is a Grenada politician and diplomat who served as Grenada's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in the 1980s. She was Minister Counselor for the Grenada Mission in New York and Washington and currently serves as th ...

was elected as GULP leader in February 2003, becoming Grenada's first female party leader. In the

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

the party won 3.2% of the vote but again failed to win a seat. For the 2008 elections it formed an alliance with the

People's Labour Movement The People's Labour Movement (abbreviated PLM; initially as Democratic Labour Party (DLP)) was a political party in Grenada founded by Francis Alexis. It was one of the oldest political parties of Grenada. It became defunct after the 2008 electi ...

named the Labour Platform. The alliance fielded 11 candidates for the 15 seats,GULP/PLM Combination Produces 11 Candidates
Grenada Today, 5 July 2008 but received only 478 votes and no seats.

Electoral history

House of Representatives elections

References

{{Authority control Labour parties Political parties in Grenada Political parties established in 1950 1950 establishments in Grenada *Main Republicanism in Grenada