Peoples National Party

The People's National Party (PNP) is a social-democratic political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in the House of Representatives, as 96 of the 227 local government divisions. The party is democratic socialist by constitution.

The PNP uses the hatted head, the rising sun, the fist, the trumpet and the colours orange, red and yellow as electoral symbols.

The party is a member of COPPPAL and a Socialist International observer. From 1957 to 1962, the party was a member of the West Indies Federal Labour Party in the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation.

Colonial Jamaica

The PNP was founded in 1938 by Norman Washington Manley, and is the second oldest political party in Jamaica (the People's Political Party was formed earlier, on 9 September 1929, by Marcus Garvey). It is now one of the country's main two political parties, and is considered more to the left than its main rival the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The party held a majority of seats in the parliament of the Colony of Jamaica from 1955 until 1962. Following independence in 1962, it held the majority of seats in the Jamaican Parliament from 1972 to 1980, from 1989 to 2007, and from 2011 to 2016.

The PNP was defeated in the first universal elections held in Jamaica in 1944, winning only four of the 32 seats (one elected independent joined the party afterwards). The 1949 Jamaican general election was much closer. The PNP received more votes (203,048) than the JLP (199,538), but the JLP secured more seats; 17 to the PNP's 13. Two seats were won by independents. The voter turnout was 65.2%.

In 1954, the PNP expelled Richard Hart, a Marxist, and three other PNP members for their (alleged) communist views. The other three members were Frank Hill, Ken Hill and Arthur Henry, and they were collectively referred to as "the four Hs". Under "the four Hs", the unions they officered had the largest following of any union outside of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union.

Hart and the other members of "the four Hs" were very active in the trade union movement in Jamaica. In the 1940s and 1950s. Hart worked as a member of the Executive Committee of the Trade Union Council from 1946 to 1948. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Caribbean Labour Congress from 1945 to 1946 and Assistant Secretary from 1947 to 1953.

The expulsion of the 'Four Hs' signalled a parting of ways between the PNP and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), which was aligned to the PNP. The National Workers Union (NWU) effectively filled the vacuum left by the TUC.

The PNP came to office 1955, and held power until just before independence in 1962. In the 1955 Jamaican general election, the PNP won for the first time, securing 18 out of 32 seats. The JLP ended up with 14 seats, and there were no independents. The voter turnout with 65.1%. As a result, Norman Manley became the new chief minister.

The 1959 Jamaican general election was held on 28 July 1959, and the number of seats was increased to 45. The PNP secured a wider margin of victory, taking 29 seats to the JLP's 16.

Manley was appointed Jamaica's first premier on 14 August 1959.

During this period of government, it promoted actively reformist social democratic policies, including opening secondary education to many poorer Jamaicans through state funding of scholarships.

In the 1961 Federation membership referendum Jamaica voted 54% to leave the West Indies Federation. After losing the referendum, Manley took Jamaica to the polls in April 1962, to secure a mandate for the island's independence. On 10 April 1962, of the 45 seats up for contention in the 1962 Jamaican general election, the JLP won 26 seats and the PNP 19. The voter turnout was 72.9%.

This resulted in the independence of Jamaica on 6 August 1962, and several other British colonies in the West Indies followed suit in the next decade. Bustamante had replaced Manley as premier between April and August, and on independence, he became Jamaica's first prime minister.

Independent Jamaica

On 21 February, in the 1967 Jamaican general election, the JLP were victorious again, winning 33 out of 53 seats, with the PNP taking 20 seats.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook'', Volume I, p. 430.

In 1972, under the leadership of Norman Manley's son Michael Manley, the PNP returned to office committed to democratic socialism and a foreign policy focused on strengthening relations with the Global South. The PNP won 37 seats to the JLP's 16. In the 1976 Jamaican general election, the PNP won another landslide, winning 47 seats to the JLP's 13. The turnout was a very high 85 percent.

In 1980, after several years characterised by inflation and rising unemployment, the JLP led by Edward Seaga

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